An Ill Wind
by ShivaVixen
Summary: [AU TimeTravel] Meg has had enough of the Winchesters, and decides to travel back in time to screw with them, and the many other people she doesn't like, as much as possible before someone kills her. But it is an ill wind indeed that doesn't blow some good, and she can't follow all the consequences of her actions.
1. 5 Step Revenge Plan

**Summary:** Meg has a plan to go back in time and screw over the Winchesters and their allies.

 **Five Step Revenge Plan**

* * *

 **Step 1: Go back in time and set up a base of operations.**

* * *

Meg (not her name, but even fellow demons seemed to have forgotten that, so she kept using it) had been frustrated with the Winchesters before. Now, since none of her plans were working, she kept having to ally with the two brothers she'd really rather kill, and she just wasn't taking this anymore. In fact, she had a list of those she was thoroughly fed up with, which included several humans, demons and angels she would like to screw over or just outright kill.

It would also be easier to do if she could time travel, and it wasn't that hard to find a half dozen genuine books on the subject. (She stole them, actually, and that had not been an easy feat with her lack of allies.)

There were plenty of time travel spells, and while going forward was always a problem, going back to a point in time that could be manipulated wasn't that hard. Eight dead people latter (homeless, three so strung out on drugs they were about to die anyway) and Meg was now possessing yet another homeless woman in 2008, and teleporting to do a quick check she had made it back in time. She grinned as she found a cross, and more importantly, the recently churned dirt in a rectangle.

Poor Dean was just now in hell, the angels wouldn't pay any attention to Sammy's prayers, and Ruby (with the help of Lilith and her posse) was keeping any other demons from answering Sam's summons until the bitch decided he was desperate enough to listen to anything and start twining him around her fingers.

Which had been roughly 28 days from Dean's attack, as Meg recalled, and that meant she needed to set up an appropriate lair in a week at most.

Not that hard, now that she knew all about Anti-Angel wards, and more powerful demon wards that only allowed the creator access. (She supposed she owed the Winchesters some small gratitude, but honestly, that only meant she wasn't going to remove any limbs when she tortured them.)

The Abandoned Farmhouse she found was actually not that old, only just starting to decay, on the border of Illinois and Iowa and far away from any city, town, or neighboring farmhouse so that screams wouldn't be heard.

Sammy wouldn't be her only guest, after all, she had a list of people to go after. Meg hummed as she walked out the door.

* * *

 **Step 2: Kill Ruby, Capture Sam (or at least lure him into a chase)**

* * *

Sam's relief when he saw Meg's meat suit was almost amusing. So was Ruby's showing up to stop 'Sam making the same mistake as his brother'. Ruby honestly had thought she was just some low-level crossroads to be cowed back into line. It never occurred to Ruby she was facing an equally powerful lieutenant. So, it was easy to get the knife and kill Ruby, though it burned up her meat suit to the point she wouldn't be able to overpower Sam without it falling apart.

"Ruby!" Sam had yelled, enraged, "She was going to help me with my powers!"

"So she claimed, she worked for Lilith, you know." Meg grinned at Sam's stunned look. "Oh, you fell for the 'I betrayed Lilith to help a mortal' line? You're just a pawn for hell, Winchester. Your brother's a pawn for the other side, so we removed it from the board."

"Other side?" Sam clearly wasn't sure he believed her, but Meg was honestly thrilled she could screw up part of the Angel's plans here and now, so she kept talking.

"Angels, sweetness, Angels. They'll pull him out of hell eventually, he's too good a pawn for them to leave there."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because, you're a pawn for hell," Meg repeated with a grin. "That demon blood you've got, Angels will never answer your prayers, and while it was cute watching you get maneuvered around the board like a lemming, I want to play a different game before they get your brother out."

"A game?" Sam looked at her in annoyance. Fortunately, Meg still had the knife.

"Angels have special children too, vessels, they call them, people capable of handling being possessed by an angel so they can work on earth. I want to see if you'll be any better at saving them than your fellow demon children." Meg smirked, taking Ruby's phone, and tapping a set of coordinates into it. "First location, Sweetness, you better hurry, you'll only be able to save one." She tossed the knife at him, and vanished.

* * *

 **Step 3: The Novaks**

* * *

As fun as Clarence had been, he had caused her quite a bit of grief with his habit of choosing the Winchesters and not paying attention to her. Thus, her choice of victims were the Novaks, what little she knew about them didn't make much of a difference, in her opinion, she just needed to severely damage one of the Winchesters stronger allies, how didn't really matter.

With her meatsuit crumbling, Meg left it in an alley and went after Mommy Novak. The woman didn't have the same faith as her husband or daughter, it was actually easy to hop in her, grab their little girl, and take her to the lair.

Poor little girl was so confused and scared when her mommy's eyes went black and she was tied to a chair. Meg kissed her head, enjoying Mommy Novak's screams, and left to get the other goal of this game.

Jimmy pegged on right away that something was wrong, which was amusing (grant it, he did so because apparently, the Novaks were one of those Christian families with cutesy bottles of holy water on their bookcase, and he gave her the leaking one, it was hard to hide the sound of sizzling flesh, and Mommy Novak cheered) and when he demanded where Claire was (oh, that was the little girl's name, huh) that she just rolled her eyes and sucker punched the man out.

Made it more difficult to get him in the car without witnesses, (Sam had a few more hours to go, if she had the times and distances right, she might as well give him some time to catch up) and quickly paint a 'No Angel Listening/Looking' sigil on the top of the ceiling, but she managed.

Then she started the long drive to her lair, Mommy Novak going quiet with her husband unconscious next to her. Meg studied Jimmy as she drove, remembering what he was like possessed by Castiel. If she'd had more time, she might have played with him. His wife didn't like which way her feelings were going, apparently, and Meg had some fun taunting her by gently running a hand through Jimmy's hair.

Of course, he woke up (she should have drugged him) but she rather enjoyed his confusion at being handcuffed in the passenger seat.

"Amelia …"

"Sorry, she's not in right now." Meg chuckled. "Now, as fun as it is to listen to your panicked questions, I'm going to preempt some right now- I'm a demon, your daughter is safe for the moment, and your family is bait for a Monster hunter who I loathe."

"What are you going to do to us?"

"A little of this, a little of that; haven't really decided yet, but since Sweet Sammy's already seen his brother torn apart, hell hounds are out."

"Sammy's the monster hunter?"

"You are smarter than you look." Meg smiled. "Yes, he's the monster hunter. Nice guy by your standards, the size of a moose and has the most adorable grief-stricken look I've ever seen; yours is a close second, I think." She gently caresses his face, and he pulls away, Amelia screaming at her in her head. "Your wife doesn't like me touching you, perhaps I'll see how far I can go before he arrives?"

Jimmy didn't respond to that, she could tell he'd realized that his family's screwed.

* * *

 **Step 4: Some sort of Torment … really too many things to choose from.**

* * *

Traffic. She had picked back roads and she still got stuck in traffic. Jimmy showed remarkable self-restraint and sat still, not trying to get someone's attention or call for help.

Meg wasn't going to ignore such good behavior- the Winchesters and their angel would be making a break for it right now, regardless of who was captured, just so they could have a better chance at taking her down. "I guess I'll cross off a few torments with how good you're being." Meg smirked. "Shame, really, I was thinking of what I could do with little Claire." Jimmy's face was impassive, but judging from the jaw muscle twitching, it was an attempt at keeping control.

So many thing she could do ..., she wouldn't be able to do them all. And, she was bored.

"Really, so many things to do, I'm a bit limited with this body, and of course, Sammy might show up before I can really start, but perhaps I can start narrowing the list even further." Meg 'mused' aloud, "Amelia, of course gets a front row seat, feeling, seeing and hearing everything I do, that ought to be torment enough for her- really, for a born and raised christian, she doesn't believe in half of what she says she does."

Jimmy shifted, as if wanting to shut her up.

"Of course, you'd be amazed how often that is the case, but honestly, she just follows your lead and goes through the motions." Meg continued. "Of course, you're thinking I'm lying right now, but Jimmy Dear, us demons? If telling the truth will hurt, we will tell it. Some omission, keep details vague, but there's always a grain of truth to our lies, we learned a long time ago that blatant lies makes it difficult for people to follow us." Meg smiled at the glare he shot her, it held a glimmer of uncertainty to it. "Sammy, for instance, he's desperate to kill the demon that took his brother to hell, I tell him I could help, he'd forget about the people I've killed." Well, be tolerant, but not forgetting, and the instant he didn't need her, she'd have a knife in her back. "Hmm, I suppose that's another reason not to hurt wittle Claire, maybe when I'm done with Amelia, I'll take her instead, Sammy would really hesitate killing me then ..."

That got a reaction, Jimmy yanked against the handcuffs before regaining some self control. "Don't, please!"

"Jimmy dear, you shouldn't worry, I'll still play with you." Meg grinned as she gently squeezed his knee- 'gently' being a relative term, Jimmy gasped in pain, there would be bruises there. "In fact, I think you and I will spend the most time together."

"Why are you doing all this if you want to kill this monster hunter?"

"Sammy and his brother have been thorns in the side of many, with big brother out of the way, Sammy's vulnerable, open to manipulation, perfect to play with until he breaks. Then I'll kill him." Meg patted Jimmy's leg, and turned towards her lair.

She pulled Jimmy out of the car, unlocking one wrist to pull them both behind his back. "I'll give you and Claire some time alone, before the fun starts." She promised, guiding him into the house, and the room Claire was tied to a chair in.

Only to come up short due to the devil's trap on the ceiling. "What!"

"Now!" Came a familiar voice, and little Claire threw holy water on her- she released Jimmy, who lunged away, Claire slipping the ropes and running to her dad.

"I see I shouldn't have worried about giving you time to catch up." Meg chuckled. "Sweetness, you even used little Claire as bait, what would your brother say?"

Sam moved out of the shadows, playing with the knife. "Terrible plan, but it's the last one we've got."

Sam naturally didn't waste any time trying to exorcise her, but Meg shattered the trap and lunged at him, throwing him into a wall.

"Well, you're quicker than I thought, Sweetness."

"Mommy!" Claire called out, and Meg snorted, turning towards her.

"Leave her, I won't kill you." Sam snapped, as he moved so he'd be between Meg and the other two.

"Oh, I don't think so, Sammy, you won't kill a mommy in front of her baby." Meg chuckled, "Or her baby's daddy. That would be so ironic …"

"I know, my mother's death, now get out of her."

"No, you don't know, Sweetness, lovely Jessica's stomach was slashed up for a reason, you see." Meg grinned, and Jimmy gave a harsh intake of breath, coinciding with Sam going pale.

"You're lying."

"Oh, am I? There wasn't much left of her to autopsy, you remember, besides, I doubt there wasn't much of her stomach left intact."

Jimmy started up the exorcism again, having found one on his phone, but Meg bugged out instead, leaving Amelia to crumple on the floor.

* * *

 **Step 5: Keep screwing people over**

* * *

Meg found another body, and smiled when she returned to the lair and found nothing left of the Novaks or Sam. She'd meant to keep them here and kill them, but this new game might be more fun. Tearing apart Sam's confidence, dragging the Novaks into hell … yes, she'd enjoy this.

Sam wouldn't return, his mistake, but Meg could use this place for a while.

Winchesters, Novaks, the Trans- no, wait, different prophet right now, Chuck Something- she'd ought to write what she remembered of the past few years down.

Wait, hadn't there been a book series about the Winchesters the current prophet wrote? That would help.

She'd have to get a laptop, Ruby's cell plan was junk.

* * *

 **DunDunDun ... Meg's just going to be doing her best to make lives miserable ...**

 **Clarification: I was under the impression that Ruby had left Sam alone for a while after Deam's death, before returning to seduce him and teach him how to use his powers. Meg came back during this period of separation, and when Ruby showed up to kill her to keep Sam from making a deal to get Dean out of hell, it was done so Sam would believe Ruby had his best interests at heart. Meg, on the other hand, doesn't really care.**

 **So, with that said, leave a review, next chapter, we get to see some fallout from Sam meeting the Novaks, it's ... different.**


	2. Cracked, Not Broken

**Summary:** Jimmy's not sure how, but the Hunter has become part of his family in a very short time.

 **Note:** Edited previous chapter with some added details to clear up any confusion. Thanks to the reviewers who pointed the problems out.

 **Cracked, not Broken**

Jimmy stared at his wife's heart monitor, questioning everything that had happened, and reliving the memories that had brought him to this point.

* * *

Amelia had collapsed as the black smoke left her, and Jimmy immediately shoved past the hunter and knelt by her side.

"Mommy? Daddy, is she ok?" Claire asked, and Jimmy didn't know how to answer, Amelia coughed- it sounded like she was choking on water.

"Amelia, honey, please, take it easy." Jimmy coaxed, before looking at the hunter who cautiously knelt down on her other side.

"I know first aid." He offered, still hesitant, as if waiting for someone to tell him what to do. "I need to touch her."

"Amelia, honey, this is-" Jimmy paused, realizing that he didn't know what 'Sammy' was a nickname for.

"Sam." The hunter supplied, "I'm going to help, ma'am, but it might hurt, just try to keep a breathing pattern, okay?"

Amelia gave a short nod. Sam gently checked her head and chest, muttering apologies when she flinched.

"Is she okay?" Claire asked, and Jimmy wrapped an arm around her, pulling her close.

"Nothing is broken, sorry about hitting you that hard, ma'am." Sam frowned at her for a moment, before lowering his head. "Need to listen to your lungs, I don't have a stethoscope ..." he explained.

"What's wrong?" Jimmy asked, and Sam raised his head.

"Claire? I need you to get the first aid kit from my car, it's in the back seat, I parked around back." Claire took the keys, and Jimmy nodded to her, realizing the hunter was trying not to worry Claire even more.

"How bad is it?" Jimmy demanded, speaking for Amelia who was still trying to keep breathing.

"There's fluid in her lungs, possibly blood ... Depending on how much power the demon uses, and the strength of the person possessed, it's not uncommon for the person to start ... burning out from the use." Sam grimaced. "I'm sorry, she's bleeding internally, you need to get her to a hospital."

"How can you tell?" Jimmy was praying for patience, but the hunter in front of him seemed lost in thought, before gently taking Jimmy's hand, and pressing it onto Amelia's abdomen. Jimmy knew how Amelia's body felt, had memorized it years ago, amd there was something definitely wrong with how the flesh and muscle felt. "What do we do, the nearest hospital is miles from here, ambulances and helicopters won't get here any quicker."

Once again, there was a strange hesitance, as if the hunter expected someone else to talk, before he spoke. "Moving her is probably going to hurt, maybe damage her some more ... I can't go with you, but I can help you get her into the car."

"What if that demon comes back?"

"..." Sam looked at Jimmy, with an uncertainty and odd vulnerability in his eyes, and it hit him, the demon's words from before, 'With big brother out of the way, Sammy's vulnerable, open to manipulation'.

Sam's hesitations were pauses where his big brother would tell him what to do. It wasn't that he couldn't think for himself, of course, he'd still come to rescue them, even made a trap for the demon and somehow won over Claire's assistance, but he wasn't sure what to do, and his brother wasn't there to tell him.

"Ok, I'll take Amelia to a hospital, you take Claire home and if you know a way to ward my house from demons, do it. Then you need to stay with Claire, alright? Anything happens to her on your watch ..."

"Understood." Sam nodded, and Claire came back with the first aid kit. Sam quickly opened it, and Jimmy wondered why there was a bottle of Jack Daniels in it. "I've got emergency oxygen, but it won't last long, maybe an hour if used sparingly. Can she take morphine?"

"No, she's allergic."

"Damn, sorry, the only other painkillers w- I've got are pills."

"It'll be fine, Claire, we need to move Mom to the car, but we'll have to do it gently. I'm going to take her to the hospital, you're going to go with Sam in his car back home, he's going to watch out for you, until I can come get you, okay?"

Claire had agreed, and Jimmy had watched the black impala disappear with his daughter off their exit, just then questioning the wisdom of having a monster hunter watching his daughter at home while he stayed with his wife.

* * *

He'd told the police he and his wife had been attacked, but had kept the details vague due to the concussion the attacker had given him- or he'd gotten it when his head hit the ground, he wasn't sure. The bump on his head helped pave the way for the cops to accept the vague details, but now Jimmy was torn between staying with his wife, and making sure Claire was alright with Sam. (He had called home, of course, Claire had picked up, Sam had been asking about salt in the background.)

' _Internal Bleeding, severe burns,'_ that was as far as he'd been able to listen to the Doctor. The demon's possession of his wife had done damage, and they'd placed her into a medical coma to help her heal.

' _She might never wake up.'_ Was the unspoken possibility when they'd told him what was wrong. There was some bleeding in her brain, in her lungs, and all they could really do was keep her unconscious, hope her body healed itself, had been what he'd come away from that conversation with.

Jimmy just wondered why his mind kept flickering back to the Monster Hunter jumping in front of him and Claire, trying to shield them from the demon's attentions, and the demon's taunts about a child the hunter had never even known. Once again he wanted to be in two places at once, just so he could check on Claire.

The decision was made for him by the nurse that shooed him out to go home and rest, promising to call if something happened. He left after kissing his wife's head and promising he'd come back for her in the morning.

Going home had Jimmy realizing he'd left Claire with a man he didn't even know. A few thoughts flashed into his head, so he was left feeling strangely wrong-footed when he came in to find the Hunter helping Claire with her summer reading project and giving an analysis on the first few chapters of _The Yearling_.

"So, his best friend is a crippled kid with a love for animals … how did they make the book so thick?" Claire was looking at the book in confusion.

"Details, mostly, describing the time, the place, the people that he knows … and how the yearling fits in." Sam shrugs. "It was written in a different time. You've read _To Kill a Mockingbird_ , right?" Claire nodded. "Small isolated towns and families tend to act as if their traditions and rules are the only ones that should be followed, breaking those in anyway, makes them uneasy."

"But liking animals is less odd than taking them in?" Claire frowned.

"They're hunters as well as farmers, be a bit like planting a tomato plant and not eating the tomatoes, or letting caterpillars eat it." Sam shrugged again. "It's not enough to get him run out of town, but it's enough that they'll just shake their heads and pretend he's dumb."

"I should've picked a different book." Claire muttered, and Sam laughed.

It's not a real laugh, it's slightly forced, but Jimmy can tell it still took Sam by surprise.

"You'll do fine with this, like I said write notes on the characters and outline major events before you start writing the report, and it will be much easier."

Claire nodded, and when she looked up at Jimmy as he entered, promptly ran to hug him. Sam stayed seated, but Jimmy didn't pay him any mind, relieved to see Claire unharmed and safe. "How's Mommy?" Claire asked, pulling back.

"She's in a medical coma so she can heal, they think she'll make it." Jimmy watched Sam look away, and decided they needed to talk sooner instead of later. "It's past your bedtime, Claire, let's get you in bed."

Claire fell asleep quickly, and Jimmy came down to see Sam straightening the notes Claire made for her book report.

"You have questions." Sam said, in a tone that implied he wasn't really up to answering them, but would do so anyway.

"Understatement of the year, I think." Jimmy didn't drink much, but it wasn't hard to pull out the beer he'd hidden on a top shelf for the occasional party, because he doubted either of them would make it through this conversation without it. "I have no right to pry into your personal life, of course, but why did it use my family as bait? Why not yours?"

"… I don't have any family left. My brother, he sold his soul to a demon to bring me back to life, they collected a few weeks ago." Sam answered, and Jimmy winced. "Been trying to reverse it, get my brother out, because Dean's a good person, he doesn't deserve Hell, but that demon …" Sam sipped at the beer. "It's a long story, you've got enough on your plate. As for why your family, the demon said your family was special for Angels, they can use you as vessels to do their work without being detected or something."

"… The symbol in my car?"

"I don't know, I sketched it and I got pictures of the others from that place, but I've never seen most of these, some seem to be variations on wards against demons and other creatures." Sam shook his head. "I still need to look them up."

"Will it come back?"

"… I don't know." Sam admitted, and Jimmy watched as the man in front of him cracked, and realized that it was a matter of time before the kid broke completely.

If he hadn't already.

"Stay here for a while." Jimmy didn't stop the words that came out of his mouth, he believed in doing the right thing, he's always believed in it, and maybe he's met this hunter for a reason. "I've taken off of work, but I'm going to be going in between here and the hospital, for a while. You could show me how to protect my family from a return visit …"

"I … I guess." Sam looked utterly lost, for a moment. "I don't want to put you out, or anything?"

"You won't, besides, maybe we're supposed to help each other."

"… Maybe." Sam didn't quite believe it, but Jimmy can tell he's not going to leave without warning them now.

* * *

In an odd way, Sam quickly slips into their family, he helps Claire with homework and gets groceries, Jimmy passes him off as a cousin to the curious neighbors, and it's a start. Because it's clear now Sam relied heavily on his brother to guide him after losing most of those he loved, and with that vital support kicked away, Sam had been crumbling fast, before the demon put him in contact with them.

Sam still wanted revenge on the demon that took his brother. Jimmy couldn't blame him, and while he hadn't left, still demon proofing the house, it was clear his focus on revenge was not healthy as it had him running on catnaps and coffee, occasionally a snack.

"Sam, if I died, I wouldn't want Claire focusing on revenge to the point she doesn't sleep or eat enough." Jimmy said a few days later, only to get an angry look. Rather than let Sam speak, Jimmy continued, "You need to be thinking straight, you're under my roof until the demon proofing and lessons are done, so you follow my rules, which includes eating at least two meals and sleeping." Jimmy wondered if he'd given a mixed message when Sam looked at him in confusion, but Sam had nodded, and started joining them for breakfast and dinner, awkwardly joining hands for grace when Claire grabbed his first.

* * *

Sam had lost his main support when his brother died, Jimmy discovered, and without it, he was heading toward a devastating collapse. Jimmy had no intention of replacing Dean, but it struck him that Sam still wasn't disappearing, helping Jimmy and Claire as if on automatic.

"I'm not your brother, but if you need to talk, I'll listen." Had been the awkward conversation opener one night when Jimmy had woken up to the sound of Sam's nightmare induced distress, and then followed the hunter to the kitchen to get something to drink.

The story that came spilling out had been equal parts amusing and heart wrenching, and Claire (he's not sure when she joined them) had curled up next to Sam to listen (hugging the hunter tightly when Jimmy eventually ushered her to bed).

"Dean doesn't deserve hell, he's a better person than me," Sam had said, eyes shining with unshed tears, "I deserve to go, I've got demon blood, I'm tainted ... Azazel wanted me to be some general for hell, said it was my destiny ..."

"Sam, no one deserves hell. People choose it." Sam looked at him, and Jimmy sighed. "You know the story of _Faust_? Even at the end, being dragged to hell, there's an angel or monk urging him to lift his hands to heaven and ask for help and he'd be saved. It depends on the adaptation whether or not he does, of course, but the point is, Faust still has a choice between heaven and hell, even at hell's gates, and maybe just through them."

"... C.S. Lewis' _The Great Divorce_ , huh?"

"You've read it?"

"Jess made me, she liked his works."

"It's theoretical, but possible."

"Was Jess your wife?" Claire asked, and Jimmy tensed, ready to spring in if Sam reacted badly to the question.

"No ... I ... I was going to ask her to marry me, after my interview for law school, we lived together." Sam admitted.

"Oh." Jimmy ushered Claire back to bed, before returning to ask the question that's been bothering him.

"Was she pregnant, when she died?"

"I don't know, we used protection, she was on the pill, so it would be a small probability, and I can't ... I can't remember if there was anything off ... And there wasn't enough left of her to do a thorough autopsy." Sam closed his eyes. "She's been dead for a couple years, if she was pregnant, that doesn't change it, but," he hesitated.

"But there's a possibility that deserves to be mourned, even if you just learned about it." Jimmy offered, and Sam nodded.

"Dean would have been thrilled to be an uncle." Sam said, "Of course, if it was a girl he'd have been overprotective, a boy and he'd be getting him into all sorts of trouble, either way they'd be spoiled rotten... Dad might have stopped by and talked ... I even catch myself wondering if he or she would have been like Jess or like me in looks or personality and it's like I've lost them all over again." Sam shook his head. "I don't know what's worse, the possibility that Jess was pregnant, or the possibility that the demon was lying just to hurt me just a little more."

Jimmy stayed awake after Sam had gone back to sleep, wondering the same thing. Claire was the one thing that was keeping him strong through this, he couldn't imagine what he'd do if she was hurt as well. Amelia was his wife, it would hurt if she died, but he'd keep going for Claire ... If he lost Claire, he wasn't sure he'd want to go on, even with his faith in God.

 _'Please, Jesus, help me, Sam needs help, Claire needs reassuring, and if Amelia dies ...'_ he couldn't finish the prayer.

* * *

He was home from another day at the hospital, they were finishing dinner, and Claire had just asked the question he'd been dreading, when his cell rang and he answered it without looking to try and by some time before he had to answer Claire's question.

"Sir, This is Pontiac Memorial, I'm sorry to inform you your wife is dead."

Amelia and three other patients had died in their hospital rooms from a fire that might have started in the room next to hers, but Jimmy could only hear one sentence. The phone fell from his hands, only to be caught by Sam, who looked at the number, then at his own phone.

"Jimmy, we have to get to the hospital, now. That was the demon." Sam grabbed his keys and tossed Claire the knife he'd been carrying around. "Claire lock the doors, toss holy water on us when we come back, don't let anyone else in."

Sam broke more than a few speed limits getting to the hospital. The night shift was bewildered as the two ran in, Sam bellowing at a nurse to call the fire department and cops, straight to Amelia's room- only for fire to flash out.

Jimmy had been looking at the fire, praying _Christ, no_ , and then he was staring at the ceiling as a second explosion echoed, Sam pinning him down and a night shift nurse screaming.

A woman with black eyes stood over them. "Didn't I tell you, Sammy? You'd only be able to save one. This round is over." She vanished, medical and firefighters running to put out the inferno. Jimmy got up and moved forward to his wife's room, but was stopped by Sam.  
Sam's eyes were empathetic, but he didn't let go even when Jimmy tried to throw him off.

"Jimmy, stop. Claire needs you."

"Sam ..."

"I know, I'll get her, I promise." Sam had pulled Jimmy to a bench, and then stiffened.

"Sam?" Jimmy looked up and saw cops talking to the nursing staff. "What should we say?" 'A demon blew up my wife' was likely to end with them in a padded cell.

"You got a phone call, saying your wife was dead, you came because you wanted to see her, show them the number." Sam murmured, "I drove you."

"Family friend?" The cops were coming their way.

"If you want, I was thinking 'someone from another church looking to advertise'."

"Not believable. Already claimed you as an out of town cousin to that busybody neighbor."

"It's going to be okay, Jimmy." Sam said as the cops and nurse came over.

"According to witnesses, you two came in here like the devil was on your heels." The younger cop started, and got cut off by a glare from the older one.

"I got a call on my cell saying my wife was dead from a hospital fire and I wanted to see her. But when I got here, there wasn't any signs of a fire ..." Jimmy closed his eyes. "I needed to see her, I hoped it was some cruel prank."

"Sir, we wouldn't notify families of death like that in such a case." The nurse frowned. Sam took Jimmy's phone, and frowned as he pulled up the call log. Jimmy saw the older cop look, and a similar frown appeared.

"That's a cell number ... Didn't you look at your caller ID?" the cop asked.

"I haven't been, it's either the hospital, my work, or well-wishers calling." Jimmy admitted. "My daughter ... She just asked when Mommy would be able to come home, I answered in an attempt to deflect it." All the adults winced.

"And you?" The younger cop asked Sam.

"Family friend, was helping to install a security system after they got mugged ... Jimmy wasn't in a state to drive."

"I don't doubt it." After insuring that they had Jimmy's contact information, the trio turned and started to walk away.

"The attack occurred on the highway, I thought." The nurse commented, as if she thought Jimmy and Sam couldn't hear. Sam closed the distance between him and the trio.

"It still occurred." Sam pointed out, quietly, startling them. "Jimmy wanted Claire to be protected after what happened to Amelia. If it helped him sleep at night, I'd even start putting out those old fashioned bear traps. I'm also more interested in who the hell blew up the hospital, given you have better security." Sam pointed out, and Jimmy had a feeling Sam was glaring at them. "Some sicko just blew out half a dozen rooms of a hospital, I know I'm going to sleep better after checking the security system at the house again."

"Sam, it's okay, it's their job to be suspicious of everyone." Jimmy decided to diffuse the situation given the way the younger cop was tensing. "I need to get home ... Claire ... I need to tell her ..." Jimmy paused, and froze. "What do I tell her?"

"... I think you're supposed to tell her the truth ... Minus the fire?" Sam glanced at the nurse and older cop.

"That would be good." The older cop agreed, and nudged the Rookie to the side. "We'll be by tomorrow morning."

Jimmy and Sam vanish from the list of suspects quickly, and just in time for Amelia's funeral.

Jimmy tried not to shudder or glare when Sam quietly suggests cremation, it's a good choice, there wasn't much left of her for a coffin, and it would have had to be closed casket ... It doesn't make it easier to pick it in light of how she died.

* * *

The day after the funeral, Sam received a text from the demon, a new location, a new person to save, so he had to leave.

Jimmy asked off of work, let Claire's school know she might be late coming back to school, and enjoyed shocking Sam by adding their luggage into the Impala's trunk while he was packing it in the early morning.

"It's not safe for Claire," Sam started.

"I know, but it's not safe for either of us here, either, if it's a ploy to get you away from us." Jimmy pointed out, and Sam glances at Claire, who held up her book.

"You're helping me finish this." And with that she hopped into the back of the impala with several blankets and a few pillows, contorted her body around the seatbelt and settled in for a nap.

"Jimmy, I can't …"

"You can't go alone, either." Jimmy noted, and Sam looked at him with an expression Claire has been trying to mimic for days. "Sam, you might not have faith in your abilities, but I've got more than enough for the both of us, and something tells me you're going to need it."

"… You're not going to take no for an answer, are you?" Sam asked, but Jimmy can tell he's won this round. "You might regret this."

Jimmy doubted he will ever regret this.


	3. Taking Notes

**Summary:** Claire should be working on schoolwork. She's more interested in studying the hunter that rescued her family and the things he does.

 **Warnings:** I back up the Narrative before moving forward, this is a style experiment as well, please review and critique (preferably constructively) what you think works and what doesn't!

 **Taking Notes**

Claire liked Sam. Liked him the moment he stepped through the door in the old house the scary person looking like her mom left her in, muttered something then dropped his gun and knelt by the chair, gently untying her as he introduced himself, asking what had happened and promising to save her mom. He had reluctantly put her back in the chair when the car had driven up, but gave her some holy water to throw for protection.

She thought he was a hero, then. A guardian angel sent to protect her. He even saved her Mommy from the monster controlling her.

Then he took her home while Daddy took Mommy to the hospital, and tried to stay in the kitchen and living room. Claire was terrified to go upstairs alone, and had convinced him to follow her up the stairs and wait outside her room.

She knew about strangers, and that she was supposed to be wary about men near her while she was changing, but having had a demon use her own mother to kidnap her, she really didn't care (plus he hadn't wanted to be near her while she changed, so wasn't that proof he wasn't a bad stranger?). He scared off the demon, therefore, he was staying as close to her as she could keep him until Daddy got home.

It was late, but Claire couldn't sleep, and Sam had sort of made dinner ('Soup out of a can,' he said, 'I can't really cook, sandwiches and salads are about it for my skill level.') so she got him to sit next to her on the couch while _Mary Poppins_ started, and at one point she had to force him to put his arm around her, because she was finally starting to relax but his arm was in an awkward position.

He smelled like wood, dirt, leather, some sort of oil and smoke, and she found she rather liked how that combination smelled as she finally fell asleep on him.

She sort of woke up once, Mary Poppins was singing 'feed the birds' and Sam had relaxed a bit, one hand gently running through her hair despite the size of his hand. Daddy wasn't home, but she was safe with Sam, so she drifted right back to sleep barely noticing the weight of the afghan on top of her.

Even when Daddy came back, Sam stayed, explaining the symbols he was putting up, either with a sharpie or by carving them into the doorjambs, and the various items that repelled evil spirits and other monsters. She knew Sam was sad, sometimes he'd wipe at his eyes when he thought she wasn't looking, or fiddle with an odd shaped pendant on a string around his neck. Sam also spent a lot of time awake even though he had the guest room, until Daddy confronted him and also got him to start eating with them, instead of just drinking the yucky coffee that Mommy liked, and Daddy only drank before work.

Adults must lose their sense of taste, she had decided when she had tried a sip once. Mommy and Daddy had laughed when she told them that. She burst into tears one morning when she remembered that, and both Sam and Daddy had taken turns holding her.

* * *

Claire wanted Mommy back, she wanted Sam to hurt the demon that hurt her family, but most of all, Claire wanted to stop being scared whenever Daddy or Sam left her in a room alone. Even working on her summer book-report hadn't helped. She was almost 11, she should be able to handle being alone for a few minutes!

The people that came didn't help either- she couldn't talk about the demon to anyone, and the counselor lady from her school that came to talk to her didn't like Sam setting up some Cameras (front & back doors, garage and one on the side of the house) while Claire was there. The Counselor didn't like Sam at all, in fact, and Claire reacted to her trying to talk Daddy into making Sam leave by grabbing onto Sam and making him promise not to leave until the house was safe.

The lady stopped trying to get Sam to leave, but Claire caught the words 'regression' and 'delicate handling' when she talked to her Daddy again (she sat too close to Daddy when she did it, too, and Claire didn't like it), and Claire had enough of listening to this woman talk like Claire was a baby and wasn't capable of understanding anything she said, because Claire knew.

Claire knew she was clinging onto Daddy and Sam, knew that sitting on their laps while they were sitting and talking was a little too childish for an almost 11 year old, but she wanted to feel safe and she didn't feel safe with her friends or with the people from church that came over to talk to Daddy and drop off food.

She really didn't feel safe around the school counselor, and told her Daddy so. Claire did it when the lady was there, and she left in a huff when Daddy agreed with Claire, saying they'd find someone else.

"Thank you for your honesty Claire," Dad said, looking a little bemused at Sam who had dialed a number and excused himself for a bit. "I'm sorry, I know this is a really scary time, I thought it would help to talk to someone."

"It doesn't, they don't understand, and we can't tell them mom was possessed." Claire hated not being able to tell her friends why she was staying in her house so much, why she kept running to make sure Dad and Sam were still nearby. It was frustrating and some of them were beginning to stop talking to her, which only made her feel worse.

Dad had looked at her sadly, before pulling her into a hug. "I know, sweetie. You can talk to me or Sam about that."

"Who do you and Sam talk to?" Claire asked, because she couldn't recall either of them talking about it much, actually. Sam had talked to her just after it happened, Dad had talked after he came home from the hospital, but she couldn't remember either of them talking about it to anyone else.

And Sam hunted demons and monsters, so he'd probably need to talk more than anyone.

" ... We haven't. I guess we should, huh?" Dad asked her, and Claire nodded.

"He's fought lots of bad things, if I'm scared after what happened, how does he feel?" She had pointed out, because she can't imagine fighting ghosts or witches to help people and not be scared, and her Daddy had smiled.

"You're right, maybe he needs our help as much as we need his."

"Thanks." Sam came in and hung up the phone. "So, uh, I worked on a violent spirit haunting a couple years back, met a psychologist ... He suggested you just try writing things down, no one else has to read it, or anything, like Ms. Gingham wanted, just write whatever you think of to get it off your mind."

* * *

Claire found a faux leather journal with a lock, her mom had given it to her when she turned 10, but she'd still been using her old diary so hadn't used it yet.

She wrote about the demon, about the devil trap and the symbols she had memorized before Sam had rescued her, about the protections Sam was putting around their house and how to make holy water.

She also wrote notes on Sam, on how he had nightmares and didn't sleep or eat enough without her Dad's reminders, about the pendant (amulet) that belonged to his brother who died saving his life, how his older brother must be as cool as him, because Sam still looks up to him. She wrote about the night Sam told them his story, a demon that stalked his family because it was using his blood to change certain children, how Sam no longer had visions or anything after dying and coming back, because his brother sold his soul to save his life only to be killed by a demon a year later; and another demon said there was a way for him to still use those powers, only to get killed by the demon that kidnapped them.

He had even cried a little, and Claire wished she was bigger because she couldn't hug him tight enough.

So after Mommy died and was buried, and Sam was called by the demon with another set of coordinates, Claire had started packing, much to her Dad's surprise.

"We have to help Sam, Daddy, he still needs us." Because the look he had given the phone had been equal part scared and sad, with something else that made her think he was tired, and the only thing she retained from meeting the school counselor was that people could get sick from being scared and sad all the time, and Sam had just been getting better.

Dad had hesitated, before nodding. "I was thinking the same thing. I'll pack, you distract Sam? He might not want us to come."

He hadn't, but Claire curled up in the backseat of the Impala and fell asleep to the noise of the engine and Dad commenting on the old cassettes, she didn't tell them she took Mom's Ipod jack from the minivan until she woke up for lunch, because listening to the radio was boring.

They had to stop once for sleep at a motel, Claire had shared one of the beds with her dad while Sam took the other.

She read and wrote more notes on The Yearling, but she found the idea of a deer hunting other deer (or anything else for that matter) like a dog did, more than a little wrong, so she stopped reading it for a while.

Claire also wrote more notes about Sam, the Impala, how her Dad was doing, where the coordinates were taking them according to the GPS Sam had, and how she hoped Sam might be able to kill the demon with the knife he had.

But the one thing she didn't write about was the weird thing that happened while Sam and her Daddy went to help the people the demon had kidnapped.

Claire had been sitting in the back seat of the impala and praying. "Please, Angels, protect my Daddy and Sam ... Also, I don't know if it's possible, but Sam's older brother Dean is in hell and he's a good person who only got sent there because he offered up his life for his brother's, and I would like it a lot if someone could get him out of there, because he's not a bad person and only bad people go to hell, so please save him ..."

 _"Part of the Host is going to save Dean Winchester, don't fear for him anymore."_ A voice said, and Claire had been startled, because she didn't know who had spoken, and then the voice said, _"Be careful, Claire Novak."_

Claire had tried to get the voice to speak again, but it never replied to her other prayers, and she kept trying until her Daddy came for her and the Impala.

* * *

 **Note:** From what I could follow in show, Angelic Vessel bloodlines are specific to certain angels- or angelic types- Winchesters can handle Archangels, Campbells seemed to have been claimed by angels that fell with Lucifer (Azazel is technically a fallen angel, not a human, turned demon ... I think?) Novaks are claimed by Castiel, or angels of his rank ... Even Gadreel had a specific vessel for him, despite being locked up in heaven's jail for eons. (I am ignoring the whole actor paradox thing, just fyi)

Also, Angelic Vessels are capable of talking to angels without having their eardrums burst ... Jimmy apparently talked to Castiel for months before becoming his vessel ... I'm going to be using that idea but taking it in a different direction.

Claire's reaction to the school counselor is actually mine; I had a school counselor at one school that was constantly analyzing me, and then saying awful things to my parents to get me even more isolated than I already was. The school counselor at my previous school had been much better, so I knew the new one was awful at helping me. For Claire, Sam is the better previous school counselor I had, who actually listened to me.


	4. Rattling Skeletons

**Summary:** Meg's moved on to her next victim, but she doesn't expect the result.

 **Rattling Skeletons**

After setting Amelia Novak's hospital room ablaze, Meg had gone after her next target, and was annoyed to find two pests nosing about. Meg didn't give the two ghouls she killed much thought, though, focusing on Adam, the third Winchester, as he was talking to his mother about summer plans and his next year of college.

Imperfect vessel for Michael, part of the reason Sam was able to overpower Lucifer. She was willing to bet Sammy would be devastated, finding out he had another brother in danger of dying and going to hell.

Meg sent Sam the coordinates for their house, then left to get her new body.

Initially, she had planned to possess or kill Kate Milligan, but some time spent on a Supernatural forum had given her pause. An intriguing debate had caught her eye, regarding the book "Skin".

A debate on what would happen, if a shifter was possessed by a demon: Would the demon gain the weakness to silver? And the shifter might last longer than a human meat suit ... Would a demon be able to negate the 'need a living person to copy' rule? Meg had been amused by the suggestions batted back and forth. It hadn't been hard to find a shifter- this one far less violent than the one in the book, but still eager to sleep around with unsuspecting wives and girlfriends, and had no real qualms killing someone else.

The Shifter was still a little harder to possess compared to Amelia Novak, even managed to push her out of control for a moment through sheer will power alone. Meg carved the binding link, smirking as the shifter settled down.

"Now for a little family reunion." Meg turned into Kate Milligan, and after a quick stop at the ER to steal what she needed, she snuck into the house. Poor Adam was so confused when his mother suddenly choked him into unconsciousness, and Kate ... Well, she came after Meg with an iron skillet.

She tied them to chairs in the kitchen, and smiled as they came around. She'd missed out on some fun with the Novak's.

"Mom, what's, what's going on?"

"Adam, honey, how much do you know about your father?" The shifter actually helped Meg get the memories, sensing a new game, and very curious too. "Oh, visits once a year or two since you were 12, never talks about himself. Well Adam, your Daddy died a couple years ago. He had two other sons, both older than you, and the eldest died recently. See, the family business, it wasn't the marines or the traveling mechanic, it was hunting monsters like me." She wondered what her eyes looked like now as they frightened Adam, judging by the way he stiffened. Meg chuckled, and smiled. "Sammy, the one that's left, took up the family business, but he has no idea his Daddy had another kid. He saw your older brother die, killed by something he couldn't see or stop, so he'll do anything to save you and your mommy, because Winchesters do stupid things for family." Meg tilted her head to the side. "Oh, do want to see what he looks like?" She pulled out her phone, and showed him a picture of Sam that Ruby must have taken after Dean's death, looking terrified and desperate.

Adam looked at the photo, then glanced at his real mother, and Meg showed it to her as well, smiling as the woman glared, maternal instincts reaching out to the expression on Sammy's face.

"He has the best expression, don't you think? Makes you want to carve him up, make him beg and scream." Meg commented conversationally, and Kate continued to glare at her. "Don't worry, I'll clean up after."

"He doesn't even know us, he won't come!" Adam objected, and Meg laughed.

"He will, but I get to have my fun first." She cut Adam's shirt open, shoved a dishtowel in his mouth, and used the scalpels she'd stolen to start carving, deep enough to scar but not be life-threatening.

"Stop! Stop it!" Kate yelled, and Meg sighed, shoving a rag in her mouth as well, and using a bandana to keep it in.

"Shh, I'm working." She started with an angel banishing sigil, for old times' sake and irony.

Once it was finished, and poor Adam was pale and shaking, she poured hydrogen peroxide over it. Meg laughed as he jerked in the chair, a muffled scream behind the gag.

She started on another sigil, meant to stop angels from hearing things in a certain area, it was much more intricate and took up several hours because Adam kept trying to pass out from the pain and she wanted him to stay awake. As she was finishing, there was a click of a gun.

"That's enough, get away from him." Sam's familiar growl made her smile.

"Oh, Sweetness, it's never enough. Adam honey, I told you he'd come." Meg used Adam's hair to force his head to turn towards his half brother. "See, your big brother is here to save you!" She cooed, and Adam blinked at Sam.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Sam snarled, and Meg giggled.

"I see Daddy Winchester didn't mention he had a nice normal family in the wings." Meg mocked Sam, who was looking at Adam in shock. "Poor Sammy, Daddy kicked you out for wanting to be normal, but he could have dropped you off here at anytime. Want to know how many hunts he went on and stopped by here?"

"Let him go, he's got nothing to do with this." Sam growled, but his hands shook.

"Oh but he does. Did you leave the Novak's to grieve? I'll be going after them once I'm done here, little Claire might enjoy my work-" The iron skillet hit the back of her head, sending her to the ground. She blinked up at Jimmy, who was doing a wonderful version of Castiel's death glare, and had also untied Kate while she was taunting Sam.

"You're ... Not supposed to be here." Meg was surprised. In fact, she was shocked. And slightly concussed due to the downside to the binding link. She teleported out, back to the shifter's lair, which had the shifter's stomach rolling, so she threw up before changing skin into a brunette.

Why the hell was Jimmy hunting with Sam? All evidence of Jimmy Novak pointed to him not ever wanting Claire in harm's way. Hell, the man was the opposite of John Winchester in regards to parenting.

She'd have to look into that.


	5. Consider Yourself Family

**Summary:** Adam has an older brother, monsters exist, and for some reason, some stupid part of him is terrified of being left alone with his own mother.

 **Consider Yourself Family**

Adam had no idea what to make of the two men who'd come to his rescue. Jimmy Novak's daughter had joined them after Jimmy went to get her, she was reading a book in the living room, and Sam had been busy cleaning up his blood from the kitchen while his mother patched him up- or tried to.

He knew it had been the demon or shifter or whatever, but he couldn't stop himself from flinching away from her every time he opened his eyes. He knew it hurt her, too. After an hour or so of his flinching, she stopped stitching him up and kissed his head as she stood.

"Mom?"

"I'm so sorry Adam." Mom left, and he blinked as a very baffled Sam came in.

"You, uh, need patching up?" Sam looked at him, and Adam gave a small nod.

"Yeah, I'm pre-med, but she got me pretty good." His voice was a little raspy from being choked, but Mom had checked that first before giving him pain pills and trying to stitch him up.

"Sorry, I was a couple states over when the bitch sent your longitude and latitude." Sam apologized, and sat down in front of him. "She, uh, started recently with this, I think she wants me to arrive too late."

"Yet you still ran to the aid of strangers you didn't know." Adam didn't know what to make of Sam (especially since the guy was taller than him, some part of him felt like he got shafted in the height department). "You didn't even know we were related."

"Yeah, but I'm a hunter, I do that anyway. Hunting things, Saving lives, Family business. Hopefully, you'll just have to deal with saving lives the normal way." Adam watched as Sam frowned, falling silent as he studied the marks the monster had carved as he stitched Adam up.

The silence was too much awkward on top of the already awkward moment of having his newly-discovered-older-half-brother stitching him up in the bathroom. "So, uh, Dad kicked you out for wanting to be normal?" (He winced a little at the question, but Sam didn't seem to notice.)

"... Well, I did get a full ride for Stanford's Pre-Law," Sam gave a small smile at his look. "Yeah, you have no idea how much Dad and I butted heads- I wanted soccer and schoolwork, he wanted me to bow hunt and memorize how to take down a poltergeist. You got lucky, your mom was there."

"What happened to your mom?"

"Died, demon killed her when I was a baby, so I didn't even know her, Dad went ... Well, he got obsessed with ganking monsters trying to find the one that killed her, so we moved around a lot, I guess he met your mom on one of the hunts he took."

"Oh, sorry." Adam paused, and hissed at the sting of the needle. The painkillers Mom had given him were wearing off. "Um, the demon mentioned an older brother?"

"Dean, he, he died." Sam closed his eyes. "A demon killed him."

"Sorry." Adam apologized again, it really didn't seem fair, that of the three brothers, the things he'd gotten to have had been denied to the other two ... or that he hadn't even known about their existence beforehand. (The rare letter or phone call, and even the rarer visit, had never even hinted at John having other sons.) Sam was taking Dean's death hard- he'd done enough volunteering at hospitals to recognize that.

"Don't be, it's your family too." Sam paused a moment, before sighing. "I, uh, need to take pictures of these. I don't know what they are, we need to make sure they aren't," he paused looking for the right words.

"Demon tracking symbols or something?" Adam asked, and Sam gave a small nod and a smaller smile. "Why not just wreck them?"

"There's a slim chance that defacing the symbols might kill you, so until we know, it's safer to leave them be." Sam explained, looking torn as he said it. Apparently, the idea had already occurred to him, but he'd chosen to err on the side of caution.

 _'Do no harm'._ Adam thought, but nodded and said aloud, "Okay, just the marks, right?"

"Unless you've got a girl you think would like those scars." Sam offered, and Adam felt his lips twitch. It wasn't funny, really, but it was ... Comforting, maybe? Adam stayed as still as possible, and after the pictures were taken Sam wrapped the stitches in bandages, briefly checking his throat, before giving him some more pain pills and helping him to the living room couch- Adam didn't think he could make it up the stairs.

"Who was that and why did she or it attack us?" Mom looked at Sam, and Adam almost did a double take at the taller man shrinking in on himself slightly, before straightening.

"What did John Winchester tell you about what he did?"

"We met in the ER, went out for drinks, I brought him back to my apartment and he was gone in the morning, but he left his phone number if I needed him." Mom answered, and looked annoyed. "I gave it to Adam when he was 12, and the last time John stopped by Adam was 17. He said he was traveling mechanic and troubleshooter."

"Okay, cliff notes: Dad, my brother Dean, and I are hunters of supernatural creatures that prey on humans- ghost, demons, vampires- pretty much everything save sasquatch is real. My mother got killed by a demon, which is why Dad became a hunter to begin with. Dad, well, he died two years ago and Dean was killed a few weeks ago. That demon's dead, but we seem to have kicked a hornet's nest. The thing that attacked you was a demon possessing another supernatural creature called a shifter or skin-changer- She's one of a long list that doesn't like Winchesters, but she claims to be playing a game with me, given me locations where she's captured what she calls angelic vessels so I can try to save them."

Adam blinked, him and his mother as angelic vessels just sounded odd, neither of them were really religious, they were agnostic at most, but it made a twisted sort of sense.

"So far, he's saved us and you two, so he's winning." Claire offered.

"I wouldn't go that far." Sam objected, and Adam saw him shoot Jimmy a guilty look, "She wasn't expecting Jimmy to be with me, and the distance between my location and her victim tripled, she also planned to go back to Jimmy and attack, so that might be the same plan for most of her victims. I can leave some notes on wards, anti-possession charms, and I might have a spare silver knife I can give you, if she retains that particular weakness of a shifter."

"How many people is she targeting?"

"I don't know, I …" Sam shifted, "I just don't know."

"…" Adam's mom studied him, before softening. "I'll have some dinner ready soon, we've got a couple rooms, if you want to spend the night."

"We wouldn't want to put you out, ma'am." Jimmy said, only to get waved off.

"It's fine, you saved our lives, I can at least do this much." Mom walked to the kitchen, passing Adam. Sam helped him lay down for a nap before dinner, before talking to Claire about her book project, and Adam drifted off listening to them talk about Flag's behavior.

* * *

Adam woke up upon seeing his mother lunge for his throat again, and he jumped when his real mother came back into the room to ask Sam for help with the table. Adam knew his mother wouldn't hurt him, he knew that.

Sam told them more about John Winchester (and a little about himself) over dinner, but the conversation was still a little awkward, until the end, when Sam's phone rang, and he walked out to the hall while Jimmy and Claire helped Adam's mom with the dishes. Adam, not wanting to be near his mother, followed Sam.

"Hey, Bobby." Sam said, leaning against a wall. "I'm in Minnesota, a hunt … yeah, I can get there day after tomorrow, got a few last things to check. Do you know what it is?" Sam listened for a moment, noticing Adam and giving him a small smile, but didn't leave the room or shoo him off like John had done. "Sounds like vampires to me, maybe two different nests, one going for cattle while the other eats people." Sam closed his eyes. "My hunt? Demon. Went after a mother and son- tore out of here before I could get it, but the family's alive." Sam flinched, and Adam awkwardly went to lean against the wall next to him, so their arms just barely brushed. Sam relaxed. "I know, Bobby, I know … had a couple ghost hunts in Iowa." Sam still had his eyes closed, and he tilted his head back. "Listen, Bobby, there's some stuff I'll need to tell you when I see you day after tomorrow. I need to check the house protections." Sam opened his eyes. "Yeah, see you soon."

"You're leaving tomorrow?" Adam found it a little unfair- and way too remnisceint of the rare visits John had given him, several of which had been cut short by a phone call.

"Yeah, I'm sorry." Sam actually meant it, Adam realized. "I'd stay as long as your mom let me if, well." He held up the phone.

"Nah, I get it, two vampire nests sound …"

"Dangerous? Most likely it's just one nest eating people. Some Vampires do survive on non-human blood, so we let them go."

"You grew up doing this?" It sounded insane to Adam.

"Grew up going after ghosts and vengeful spirits, actually; vampires and demons were rare until a few years ago." Sam looked down. "I, uh, I'll come back some time, I guess."

"I want your number so I can remind you that you said that." Adam absently bumped into Sam when something (his mother, it turned out, and Adam wanted to scream in frustration) passed in his peripheral vision. "How do you cope with this?"

"… Find something you know that's reassuring or calming, and carry holy water around at all times. I sometimes go over old laws that I studied until I can breathe again." Sam snorted. "I can probably still recite the first half of California's gun laws. D-Dean hummed Metallica."

"Something familiar, huh?" Adam can list all the bones in the human body, major veins and arteries, organs vital to keep functioning, organs less critical to survival, how much blood one can lose- that last suddenly sounded less reassuring, and he focused back on the bones in a human body.

* * *

It did help, especially when he woke up at night, half-about to scream from the memory of his mother-but-not cutting into him. His chest hurt, and as he got up to check his stitches, he noticed that Sam was in the bathroom splashing water on his face, shirt off.

"Be out in a moment." Sam noticed him in the mirror apparently, but Adam had focused on Sam's back.

"You're hurt." Adam responded, because Sam had several bruises, most sickly yellow-green & mostly healed, and scratches that were also mostly healed.

"Yeah, I … I got tossed around a while back."

"Apparently that happens a lot." There were scars, mostly faded, Sam was apparently one of those people who were lucky enough to have skin that didn't scar much.

"Well, it's not … not a safe job."

"Is it worth it?" Adam asked, because Sam seemed half-broken without the mysterious Dean. Sam's hand went to the amulet around his neck, before he let out a sigh.

"I can save people from being scared when it gets dark, there are people who would have died if not for my brother and I risking our lives. At the same time, I can't … I can't have a normal life like you can, and I hate that I can't settle down and pretend I don't know what's out there, I can't look at a mauled corpse and assume it's a wild animal, when I know there are probably wendigos and werewolves that are looking for their next meal." Sam pulled his shirt back on. "In the end, though, it balances out, so even though it doesn't always feel like it, it is worth it."

"Okay." Adam nodded, and stopped Sam from leaving. "Need to check my stitches, feels like I pulled one while sleeping."

"Alright." Sam helped him before returning to the guest room, and Adam returned to his room, staring at the ceiling, thinking about his half-brother and just how messed up of a life he must have … and knowing that after the demon attacked, there was just no way he could pretend that there was nothing wrong in the world, wondering about how many times people were hurt by something they had no way to explain.

Wondering if he could take a semester or two off of school and learn from Sam just how to treat wounds from werewolves and what-not, or even how to tell the difference.

* * *

The next morning after breakfast, Adam watched Sam and Claire pack the car- or at least, Sam did, Claire seemed more interested in making sure the backseat of the Impala resembled a bed.

"You should go." Adam jerked at his mother appearing behind him, such a stupid reaction to the woman that raised him and dried his eyes when he cried. He should know better. "You want to go."

"What about college?"

"You can take a semester or two off, or do most of the required courses online, as you pointed out before." Mom crossed her arms. "Besides, you need to find out what those symbols are, don't you?"

"... Yeah." He got up, and noticed Mom had his duffel and backpack packed. "Mom ..." When had she had time to do that?

"Call or text me how you're doing, at least once a week. I'll say you went to stay with your father's family, some sort of inheritance ... I love you."

Before he could think and lose his nerve, Adam grabbed Mom in a hug. "I love you too, be careful."

"That's my line."

* * *

Kate followed her son out, watched Sam's surprise when Adam added his stuff to the trunk, and Claire's glee at having someone else stuck on 'laptop duty' (whatever that was) resulting in Adam getting hugged by the little girl.

"You sure about this?" Jimmy asked, pausing beside her on his way to the car, and Kate sighed.

"No. You?" She didn't want Adam to go, but she remembered her son wishing he could travel with his father to learn about him, and while John was no longer here, Sam was, and there was something about him that reminded her of John.

"Oddly enough, yes. I'll keep you posted if he forgets."

Kate watched as the car pulled away, and she wondered if she would see them all again. She was fine with being a single mother, always had been. It was just a small, tiny, part of her that had always held out that John would come back and marry her, settle-down, or offer to take Adam and her with him on somesort of vacation; learning of his death was bittersweet. Learning his sons never knew about her and Adam left a sour taste in her mouth.

Had her love been one-sided all this time?

It didn't make much of a difference now, anyway.

* * *

 **Note:** The idea of a pre-med hunter made sense to me, especially if, in the future, he/she set up a clinic to help hunters … just saying. I think that will be Adam's plan for this fic- whether or not he keeps it is still up in the air.

I may come back to edit this one, something about the timeline in my notes doesn't seem to add up to what I've written …

Anyone think a cupid was responsible for John and Kate's one night stand? Would make sense to me, especially what I know about the mythological Cupid/Eros' arrows …


	6. Wolves are Social Animals

**Summary:** Everyone expected Sam to have gone lone wolf, but they forgot the most important thing about wolves. Rufus, Bobby and Ellen are relieved, Meg is not.

 **Warnings:** A great deal of my own thoughts about how hunters operate went into this chapter, as well as glimpses into the pasts of certain characters. Also, Sam is put into an embarrassing situation and no one tries to help him. ;)

 **Wolves are Social Animals**

Rufus Turner recognized the Impala just by the engine before it turned into the motel parking lot, and felt a surge of relief. Bobby had called in a favor, he'd wanted help staging an intervention before Sam Winchester went the same route of countless other hunters. Rufus had agreed to it, because he had needed some help with a vampire nest that had turned out to be two, and because he remembered Sam from the time his dad had conned him into watching him while John and Dean had gone after a vengeful spirit just after Rufus had gotten laid up thanks to a werewolf hunt gone wrong.

Hunters were not stable people. They walked in a world of monsters, so they were constantly on the edge between human and monster. Some joked that no hunter ever died of old age unless it was a curse.

Occasionally, Hunters went into monster territory, and never came out, naturally, they couldn't tell friend from foe. Not that that wasn't hard, given the shit and mind-rapes hunters sometimes dealt with, making hunting hell on stable relationships. In order to keep themselves from all going off that ledge, one of the first unspoken rules of hunting was to find someone you trusted and make them your cornerstone; they didn't have to be your hunting partner, (though that helped) but they had to be someone you could trust not to shoot you when your back was turned. (Even after Omaha, Bobby is that stone for Rufus. The one person he can run to, if he has to; the one person he'll still drop everything for to help, despite himself.) That cornerstone, no matter how battered, was sometimes the one thing that kept a hunter stable if their entire foundation was destroyed.

John Winchester had never been really stable. For the most part, it was because his one true cornerstone had always been the memory of his wife. When his boys were still boys, they were both part of his cornerstone, until Sam hit puberty and rebelled, and Dean became the sole rock John trusted to follow orders. Which was a huge mistake, because that relationship had been far too uneven to give John any stability.

The second rule was that getting out of hunting was easy, staying out next to impossible. People died, and Hunters had a responsibility to those around them. Some might settle down, make a business that helps hunters, (Sam as a lawyer for hunters would have been wonderful) but none ever cut out completely.

So, when a hunter losses their stone number one, drops off the radar so completely no one can track him, and was last seen insisting on not giving his brother a hunter's funeral? Especially after having his foundation of people he cares about largely chipped away? They've more than likely gone rogue.

The Winchesters had enough flak from the demon gate, but now that other hunters know Dean is dead, the rumors are flying as to what happened to Sam. Some were even planning a damned lynch-mob for the kid, muttering about demons and deals and grade A nonsense.

So the fact Sam answered Bobby's call was a relief, as was the one he agreed to join up for a hunt. They could still save one brother, maybe. Rufus liked those two boys, they were good hunters, one of them going rogue was not something he wanted to consider.

He's pretty sure the reason Bobby called him was so one of them could be objective; Ellen won roping competitions when she was younger, and Rufus knew she had a pile of rope on hand if Sam turned out resistant to their help.

He was not expecting Sam Winchester to have company, because three more people were in the car, one going to book a room while Sam got out and stretched.

"I do not snore!" The young man (18, maybe?) that got out was glaring at a blonde little girl that followed.

"You do too! Sam, back me up!"

"Whoa, you're not pulling me into a backseat argument!" Sam held up his hands. "I have a tape recorder if you want."

"Isn't there a law that guys had to stick up for each other against girls?" The maybe-18 year-old asked, and grimaced, moving a hand to his chest.

"There's also a rule about age differences, and not helping little brothers against tiny girls. Stop rubbing, it's healing."

"Just because you're part giant ..." the girl glared up at Sam. The man returned, looking amused.

"Got a room, two beds and a couch meant for someone other than Sam."

"Et tu, Jimmy?" Sam rolled his eyes. "Rufus, you going to continue watching, or join in on the tall jokes?" He turned to him, and Rufus shrugged off the surprise that the young man recognized him, it had been a while.

"Thought I'd warn you, Bobby and the Harvelle's are worried about you." Rufus wasn't sure what to make of the shift in body language from the others accompanying Sam when he stepped forward to meet Sam.

There's something wrong (or maybe right) about it, but he can't put a finger on it.

"Yeah, I got some stuff to tell you guys." Sam agreed, and Rufus wanted to say it can wait, but really? It probably can't. Secrets tend to kill hunters.

* * *

 _What. The. Hell?_

Bobby can tell Ellen's focused on the little girl clinging to Sam's back, the boy (Jo's age?) who grunted as he hit the rock hard couch, and the guy wearing a freaking _polo-shirt_ with his jeans who calmly pulled the little girl off of Sam, and stopped the boy on the couch from rubbing his chest. He thought Sam would be a solo wreck, not ... Whatever the hell this is.

"Real quick, that's Ellen and Jo Harvelle, you've met Rufus Turner, and Bobby Singer. Meet Jimmy and Claire Novak, and Adam Milligan." Sam introduces, and sits next to Adam to stop him from rubbing at his chest.

"When did you form a team?" Jo asked, only to quiet at a look from her mother.

"Long story, I'm only going to tell it once, though, so no interruptions." Sam promptly had Claire squeezing next to him, but didn't react to the breach of personal space. "Okay, After the hellhounds and Lilith killed Dean, I tried to find a demon who would deal, but the first one was sided with Lilith- Apparently, there are factions to hell- and the second ... Killed Ruby, telling me Ruby was a double agent for Lilith." Sam sighed. "Apparently, like Azazel, Lilith has a plan for me, but the demon wasn't forthcoming about that bit, she wanted to play a game before Dean came back."

Bobby didn't interrupt, but it was odd that Sam hasn't mentioned a deal, so he noted it as something that needed to be asked, preferably with a beer or whiskey in hand.

"Angels actually exist, according to the demon, it said they'll resurrect Dean in a few months, because he's a potentially powerful player for them and they'll need him ... I didn't ask details, because the demon started telling me how Angels have Vessels, people who can handle being possessed by an Angel, and she wanted to see if I was any better at saving them than I was the other kids like me."

"So, you're possible angelic vessels?" Jo managed to ask, Bobby was grateful someone else did. This was quite a surprise, and something he needed to look into.

"Yes, the demon returned to kill my wife after its possession hospitalized her, I decided it was safer for Claire for us to start moving around." Jimmy explained, and Claire's clinging and childlike behavior suddenly made sense, as did Sam's allowance of it. Bobby had seen his fair share of children scared by the supernatural, even some teenagers would revert to acting like children if they were scared enough.

"Rather than that possess Adam's mother though, it possessed a shifter." Sam paused, and then added, "FYI, Adam's my half brother, who Dad knew of and never said anything about."

Ellen grabbed several beers after a long moment of silence following that bombshell, and Bobby grabbed his flask.

Because for John Winchester not to have told anyone about a third kid is less surprising than the fact there's now another idjit brother he will have to watch out for, and Dean and Sam had already given him more gray hairs in the last few months than years of hunting had ever done.

"You know anything about hunting?" Rufus broke the silence, looking at Jimmy.

"Sam's teaching me. Adam's still injured from the demon, and will be doing research with Claire when we do take a hunt until he heals, I've only been on a hunt for ghosts and one poltergeist so far, back in my home town." Jimmy explained. "I figured I'd be staying behind while Sam goes with you."

"Actually, you'll be coming with us." Bobby corrected. Because if Sam is going to be traveling with these people, they need to be able to hunt more than ghosts and poltergeists. Dean would kill him otherwise.

"I'll stay with Adam and Claire." Ellen added, and Bobby wondered if he should warn Jimmy about her. Ellen was a good hunter, but she was a mother first and foremost and she disliked those that brought their children into the lifestyle of a hunter. The only reason she'd agreed to stay behind was because of the deal she'd made with Jo, the girl would go on a hunt with experienced hunters before going with her boyfriend, whatshisname.

"Works for me, what do you think, Sam?" Jimmy agreed, and Sam glanced up from muttering to Adam.

"Sure, that's fine. Bobby, if you don't mind, we need you to look at something, I meant to send it before you called." Sam added, and passed him his cell.

Bobby stared at the pictures- he'd seen plenty of ritualistic scaring, Rufus had been dragged into a black magic ritual when they were young and stupid- but he didn't recognize these. "What did this?"

"Demon. We don't know if it's safe to wreck them." Adam muttered, and Bobby winced.

Sam would not take nearly losing a second brother to a demon well, but at least it gave Sam another stone to rely upon until (if) Dean got out of hell.

"I'll have to look into it." Bobby quickly sent the pictures to his own phone.

"We've got a couple hours before we need to hit the nest, how about all those under 30 go to our room and get ready?" Sam said suddenly, interrupting whatever Ellen was about to say. "Jo, Claire wants to play with your hair." Sam added, looking at Jimmy briefly, who nodded. "I need to check on Adam's stitches."

"Please?" Claire added, and Jo reluctantly went with them at a look from her mother.

The instant the 'under 30' group was out, Jimmy turned from mild-mannered to deadly serious.

"Got a few things to talk about regarding Sam, but first I need to ask about protecting my daughter." Jimmy said, and Bobby gave a small smile, because rookie hunter or not, it was clear this man will do whatever it took to protect his group.

As they talked, Bobby could see Ellen relax. The number of hunters who lost a parent, a spouse or a child was higher than those who had whole families, a depressing statistic that made many choose to stay single and unattached as much as possible.

It also was a contributing factor in hunters really having more stable relationships with other hunters than normal people, they already knew about the mortality rate, and guard against the dangers.

* * *

Ellen and Jimmy left to check on the 'under 30' group once they had discussed some of the matters Jimmy had been concerned about. Ellen had decided that Jimmy wasn't a danger to Claire, though that had come rather reluctantly, and shoved everything not related to the hunt into a mental closet.

Jimmy opened the door, and gave a startled laugh. Ellen was just as amused at the scene that greeted them.

Adam was on one bed snapping pictures as Sam pouted (no other word for it) from his position where Jo and Claire had him 'pinned' on the other bed as they braided his hair.

"Ellen, Jimmy, save me!" He begged, and Ellen raised an eyebrow.

"Now, why would I do a thing like that? Adam, I want copies of those pictures."

"Ellen!" Sam pouted even more as Ellen swapped numbers with Adam.

"Alright, all set?"

"Give me a minute to grab my stuff." Jo grinned, leaving Sam who promptly started trying to un-braid his hair.

"Can I stay up?" Claire asked Jimmy, looking reluctant to let him go. Ellen chose to ignore it, helping Sam unbraid his hair.

"Nope, normal bedtime, Claire-bear." Jimmy hugged her, and smiled gently. "I'm sure Ellen will have some interesting stories to tell you."

"Ask about the time Mom and I scared off a ghost with an empty bottle and a match." Jo stuck her head back in. "I was your age."

"Okay." Claire nodded, and then hugged Sam.

The hunting group left, leaving Ellen to deal with an 11 year old and a nineteen year old, neither of whom understood just how damaging to relationships hunting actually was.

The group returned around 4 am, a few bruises and scratches between them.

They all checked out in the morning, Rufus not sticking around for breakfast, while they stopped at a nice family owned place with a bookshelf patrons could pick up a book and read while eating. Jo and Claire had gone over to it while Jimmy went to the restroom and Bobby told Adam a few stories about John and Dean, so Ellen took that time to corner Sam.

"You don't check in with us regularly, I will hunt you down and kick your ass." She informed him. "We're here if you need to talk, I don't care how much John taught you not to talk about the things that bother you, you need or want to talk, even something stupid like gas prices, you call me, Bobby or Jo. Understand?"

"Yeah, I'm starting too." Sam wrapped his arms around her, and Ellen gently rubbed his back when she felt some tears fall on her head.

She would love to take a few shots at the bastards that hurt her boys, but holding them after was just as good.

"Mom, Sam, you need to check this out!" Jo called, and Ellen huffed as she pulled away.

"Joanna Beth, what have I told you about yelling across a room!" The only other customer huffed a small laugh, before paying for his meal and leaving, while the waitress grinned as she put down their food before heading to the kitchen.

"Now that we're all here, what did you find?" Bobby asked, and Claire and Jo put several books in the middle of the table.

"Supernatural?"

"Yeah, Listen to this: Sam and Dean Winchester are accompanied by Jo Harvelle on a hunt for the ghost of a legendary serial killer who's death hasn't stopped him from taking victims. Can they find the ghost before Jo becomes his next target?" Jo read from the back of one, and Sam choked on his coffee. "It's mostly from Sam and Dean's point of view, but the times it's written from mine- well, it's almost exactly what I was thinking, with some exaggeration. It seems like these are most of the hunts you guys went on since well, your girlfriend's death."

"You're kidding, most of the hunts?"

"Are all of them-" Sam started, only to get cut off by the return of the waitress.

"More coffee?" She filled them up, before noticing the books on the table. "Supernatural, huh? My sisters love those books. They're pretty good stories."

"Yeah, aren't they? Um, are these all of them?" Jo asked, holding up her book.

"Well, minus the two most recent … my sisters couldn't stomach the idea of what happens to, uh, one of the characters, so they stopped reading." The waitress shook her head. "I think they even started a rosary group that the writer would change his mind, though from the way they were talking, you'd have thought the character was real." She gave a wry smile. "Be careful if you try to google them on the internet, the fansites are pretty crazy, and uh, slightly disturbing at times." She absently leaned against a booth. "If you want, you can take all of them, my sisters have more copies."

"Really, thanks!" Jo grinned at her.

"No problem, gives me an excuse not to join in the arguments over which brother is cuter."

"What?" Sam asked, while Bobby looked mildly uncomfortable.

"My reaction exactly." The waitress gave a wry smile, and left again.

"Sam, is it okay for us to read them?" Jimmy asked, looking at the stack of books, "If they have your thoughts in them … or Dean's …" Ellen winced at the uncomfortable thought, realizing that if they were accurate, then they would include Dean's deal and death.

"I can't read them all by myself, and I would like to know how accurate they all are and more about this Edlund Carver guy." Sam let out a heavy sigh. "I have no idea how, though."

"… You know, I might actually be able to help with that?" Jimmy picked up a book, looking at the publishing information. "It will take a few calls, though."

"Go for it." Sam nodded, looking at the first book, which only had the series title and a woman in white on the cover. The waitress returned with a bag to put the books in, and the conversation turned to possible hunts nearby.

Ellen felt marginally better about Sam as the group left to check out a poltergeist in the next town over, she had been concerned that Sam would become exactly like his dad (in which case, she would've had to kick his ass) but it looked like he was going to be able to cope better than John. Ellen saw a girl walk past the restaurant as they left, but dismissed her after a moment.

* * *

Meg leaned against an alley wall after she was once again being surprised by Sam hunting with people she recognized as future allies. She wasn't sure what had changed, but Sam wasn't doing hunts solo. Without Dean, Sam was a lone wolf one bite from being rabid, or he was supposed to be. Meg also found it odd that Sam hadn't sought out another demon for information, before realizing that Jimmy Novak, as a Christian, had probably convinced him not too.

Meg scowled, because eventually this lack of reliance on Demons would complicate things and get others involved.

Lilith would start trying to get Sam hooked on demon blood sooner instead of later, easier to do without Dean around, naturally, but harder without Ruby whispering in Sam's ear. And as fun as that way had been to break the bond between the brothers, it had made Sam dangerous to be around. However, Lilith was also on her 'to screw over' list, so keeping Sam out of her clutches would help towards that goal, but might require her actually allying again with the damned Winchesters in order to frustrate the First Demon.

(Crowley was on that list as well, for that matter, but the bastard had a lot of supporters ... And was currently sided with Lilith.)

Then there was the other version of herself to consider. She was currently taking several of Azazel's supporters as her own, making her own plans for the Lucifer's return ... Meg wouldn't trust her past self with much, yet.

Truthfully, Meg had a feeling she was forgetting something regarding Lilith and her plans for Sam, but pushed that away in favor of considering her next targets that she had gained from reading the books.

It would be extremely cruel to Sam, of course, but it wasn't her fault that the lummox didn't know the name of his probable blood-nephew was published for anyone to find out. Little Ben was a probable Winchester by blood and a potential Angelic Vessel, and therefore fair game.

It would also be a nice Welcome Back gift to Dean, however, so she might just wait until he came back to go after his son. That actually sounded better to her, so Meg turned her attention to Lori Sorenson, already knowing just how to drive home the irony.

* * *

 **Notes:** I am a horrible person. Fair Warning.

In the show, Chuck mentions heavily editing the books that he writes in the episode they meet him; he doesn't insert himself in the books for one, or the fact Sam was drinking demon blood, as well as tweaking things so they 'made more sense' so I'm using the idea that the books are actually heavily edited, slightly lighter versions of the episodes.

Jimmy is an Ad salesman, I'm sure he knows at least one person in the publishing business, or has contacts that can help. They won't find Chuck just yet, though.

I cut out what Jimmy, Bobby, Rufus and Ellen talked about, because it won't come into play for quite a while. Also edited out a discussion between Ellen, Claire and Adam, because it revealed a bit too much of the future.

Now, please leave a review, and for anyone wanting to know, it's been (roughly) over a month since Dean's death, but I don't have an exact timeline. There's still, roughly, three months of games for Meg to play.


	7. Like Circles in a Spiral

**Summary:** Hunting Ghosts is pretty easy, if you don't mind reading and grave-digging. Playing Games with Demons, however, is just demoralizing.

 **Warnings** : Mentions of Racism, Homophobia disguised as Religious Zeal, Torture, Death, mostly the same as what you'd find in the show, really, but it's a step up from what I've previously written.

 **Like Circles in a Spiral**

Taking a hunt, while knowing that a demon might text a location and expect him to show up late, was not the smartest move he had ever made. Sam knew this, but they needed to iron out the logistics of how this team was going to work until Adam's stitches came out, and then they'd have to figure out how to rotate and guard Claire.

Jimmy didn't approve of the lies and credit card fraud, but he understood that living off the radar (for the most part) was part of the hunter's life. The Poltergeist or possible vengeful spirit had killed a boy in a warehouse, and the owner (it was a shock to realize the place wasn't abandoned, given how many he and Dean had found) had believed they were OSHA representatives without much skepticism.

Sam had to admit, Jimmy was pretty good at getting people to talk without sounding completely crazy.

"How long has the warehouse existed?" Jimmy asked, making notes while Sam studied the outside of the warehouse, it had been recently painted a bright red, though there were a couple patches where graffiti still showed through the paint.

"Around 25 years, I've owned it for 4." The man scowled at the building.

"Has it always been a warehouse?"

"No, first few years it was some sort of factory. Records are in the office." He gestured to the normal sized door.

"Is it guarded at night?"

"Can't afford it, got some cameras and sturdy locks, but the kids still keep breaking in."

"Why?" Sam asked as Jimmy wrote something down.

"Local legend, some guy killed himself and his black mistress here, after his wife killed herself when she found out about their affair, and either the mistress or the wife is haunting the place. The kids try to hold séances, get in contact with either of them."

"Any unusual leaks or noises?" Jimmy asked.

"Lots, and the wiring's faulty. Last renter moved all his stuff out last year, I can't hold onto this place anymore, but I can't find anyone to sell to."

"Anything still in there?"

"Some of the original factory equipment, and the files in the office." The owner waved at the door. "I got copies of the keys at home, you can lock the keys inside when you're done."

"Thank you. We'll do that." Jimmy shook the man's hand, and watched him stomp over to his car.

"That's probably the most helpful anyone has ever been when we questioned them." Sam noted, leading the way inside.

Inside was large open space, with factory equipment shoved to one side, groves and holes in the floor showed where it had been previously bolted down. Above were a couple cat-walks, which were newer looking than the stairs and ladder that led up to them. Under one catwalk was a brown stain from where the kid had apparently hit the ground. Jimmy looked away and followed Sam into the office, which was just off to the side of the front door and built like a normal office, though with windows that looked out into the warehouse. It had a more modern feel than the rest of the warehouse, with LED light bulbs and a computer and printer/copier. There was also a small filing cabinet next to the wooden desk.

"It's not password protected." Sam noted in surprise as Jimmy sat down to go through the files. Pulling up the feeds of the time the kid was killed, showed that the group of teens got in through one of the cargo doors with a crowbar and tire-jack, and the boy wandered off while they were setting up the séance, but the camera did not have the catwalks entirely in view. Just before he fell, something flared across the top of the picture. "Find anything?"

"The factory used to make bottles for the local brewery, did so for a few years, I guess union troubles were behind the switch to a warehouse, there are a few petitions regarding worker safety … then some inventories before it was sold. That's all I can figure from this." Jimmy took a few pictures with his phone to record the names.

"No internet on this computer." Sam frowned.

"Huh?" Jimmy blinked at the non sequiter.

"Sorry, was going to try and email this to Adam, but it's not connected." Sam shrugged, then the lights flickered and the printer came on.

"Should I be concerned?" Jimmy asked, and an entirely red page came out of the printer. Still slightly damp from the ink, Sam gingerly picked it up by one corner. "Sam?"

"Either a message or a warning." He put it on the desk and pulled out an infrared camera and black light.

"N, U, R." Jimmy read the three capital letters, "Nur?"

" _Run_." Sam realized, just as something hit the window looking out into the warehouse, both looked to see a large piece of machinery starting to lift off the ground.

"Great advice, thanks!" Jimmy had no idea why he said that just before he followed Sam out the office door, and then just as quickly out the front door. The instant they cleared it, there was a thud as the machinery fell back to the ground.

Sam looked down at the infrared camera, rewinding to play it back. "Nothing, just a flare over the machine part." It was frustrating as it didn't confirm whether or not it was a poltergeist or spirit.

"Well, whatever is in there, doesn't want company." Jimmy frowned, and then looked at Sam. "It's still daylight."

"Some spirits are active during certain times of the day." Sam sighed. "It's most likely getting stronger." It took him a quick moment to lock the door and close it.

"Why would it warn us?" Jimmy asked on the way back to the car.

"… Two different spirits, possibly. One Vengeful, the other trying to protect the living." Sam looked back at the warehouse. "We need to find out who's haunting the place, starting with the local legend." He dialed Adam.

It was Claire who picked up the phone. "Hey, Sam!"

"Hey, Claire, what's Adam doing?"

"He's having an argument with his computer. He's losing." She informed him, slightly giggling at whatever it was Adam was dealing with.

"How is he losing an argument with a computer?" Sam blinked, there was a brief scuffle over the phone as it changed hands, and Adam came on.

"The town's newspaper is only partly archived online. Anything over 15 years ago is not there, and that's the only thing you can find, I've tried Facebook and MySpace, and apparently, no one in this town has a page for either site." Adam sighed. "Google is even less helpful, if you can believe it. Any records are probably going to be hard copies in the library or town hall."

"If we're lucky, it's on microfilm." Sam offered.

"Should we meet you there or wait for you to pick us up?"

"We'll meet you there." Sam decided, and tried to squash down the anxiety that came with the realization that neither of them was really armed.

"Got it."

* * *

It turned out that the library and town hall were the same building. Then the problem was that the old Librarian that ran the place was suspicious of anyone looking at the microfilm, so it took a while to convince her that Adam and Claire weren't going to vandalize the projector.

"What's microfilm?" Claire asked Adam as he set up the projector.

"Small film used to take pictures of documents- spies used to use it during, well, up until the early 90s, I think." Claire watched as he inserted the first clip of film. "You ever have one of those picture wheel things? That's technically microfilm."

"Oh, so, how do you know how to use it?"

"My History 101 in College, I was supposed to pick some event relating to my major and use some old newspapers as a source, most of them were on microfilm, the library was still uploading things to the internet database." Adam shook his head. "I spent over a week in total going through the stuff."

"That's nothing, I spent over four weeks going through news articles about cases relating to different types of law for my bachelor thesis." Sam and Jimmy entered. "And they couldn't be murder cases."

"… I'd go insane if I had to do that." Adam felt nauseated at the thought. The microfilm room he'd gotten at the university had smelled like rotting prunes and garlic. " _Christe._ " He added as an after-thought, and got a wry smile from Sam.

"Alright, we've got names, and a few dates." Jimmy held up the notes he'd taken regarding the files. Presumably, it was one of the workers or owners during the time the place was a factory, so they started with those names and dates.

Ghost hunting involved a lot of reading and history, Claire decided, it was interesting, but too much like school to hold her interest for long, so she turned to reading _Tall Tales_ , the only book that her dad had cleared for her to read.

"The Trickster's like Bugs Bunny." Claire noted, and that startled Sam from whatever he was cross-referencing with the micro-film articles.

"What do you mean?"

"Bugs Bunny Cartoons … the Trickster reminds me of them." Claire didn't know how to explain the thought.

"Bugs Bunny, and a lot of the Looney Tunes, were based on the Trickster Archetype, silly but sometimes mean." Sam explained, and Claire nodded considering the idea. He turned back to the projector as he clicked to the next page. "Got something."

"And?"

"That story about the husband, wife and mistress wasn't made up, according to the article, it seems the husband, one Richard Noel, was caught with an African-English woman named Tia Parks who came to America to get a job as a nanny for the family, the wife killed herself, and then Richard killed Tia claiming she was a witch before killing himself; but get this, according to the police report the wife and mistress were both found dead in the warehouse, the wife in front of the mistress as if to protect her. The husband died when the catwalk he ran onto to escape the police railing broke."

"Why would the wife protect the woman her husband was cheating on her with?" Adam frowned.

"Unless he wasn't the one that was cheating." Jimmy offered, gaining two very confused looks. "Sorry, just … I've got his obituary right here, it claims he was an extremely zealous religious and political man who went to several political rallies against homosexuals being allowed in the military or any sort of jobs." Jimmy grimaced. "There's an excerpt of the speech he gave, it's supposed to be uplifting, but it sounds more like Hitler's suggestion of the Final Solution."

"… So the wife and mistress were together, and he freaked out?"

"Some historical witches were actually just normal women who didn't quite fit into the norms of society, it would explain why he called Tia a witch if he thought she lead his wife into what he perceived as a sin." Sam frowned. "Tia's body was cremated and taken back to England, the wife wasn't cremated, but was buried on her family's property, and Richard …" Sam trailed off.

* * *

"Buried in the oldest, most overgrown part of the graveyard." Jimmy muttered, glaring at the hedges that desperately needed to be trimmed. They'd left Adam and Claire back at the motel room, and managed to locate Richard Noel's grave. "I hope that's not poison ivy or oak." The grave was half covered in vines of some kind. The only help was that the stars and the waxing half moon were lighting up a surprising amount of the graveyard.

"It's not." Sam grimaced at the broken headstone he stepped around. "I'll start, you keep watch, getting arrested for grave desecration is not fun."

"I'm sure." Jimmy shook his head, and picked up the shotgun loaded with rock salt. "Why would the ghost kill that boy, though?"

"Most likely, the kid was gay, and Noel has it out for those who swing that way." Sam grimaced as his shovel hit some rocks. Rocky soil could be a pain and a half to get through. "He sees it as a sin or disease, probably was a strict Christian."

"There are extremists in every denomination." Jimmy noted absently. He thought something had moved one of the hedges, but he couldn't tell. "I prefer avoiding them- got one woman at my church who is extremely vocal about sex before marriage and abortions, she's scared most of the teens into not wanting to come and have to listen to her talk during the after mass pot-luck."

"The priest or reverend hasn't done anything?"

"They've requested her to stop several times, but they can't exactly ban her from the church. So the pastor started a teens only program, no adults, other than the pastor and a select few, are allowed, so that they can have a safe place to talk without her bothering them. Rumor has it she tried, but the pastor cut her down to size. Only evidence to back it up was the homily being about not judging others and her missing a lunch."

"Didn't change her did it?"

"Only in that she stopped chasing after people to listen to her, now you just have to avoid sitting at her table, she's got a few followers."

"I doubt she'd kill someone, though." Sam traded the shovel for the shotgun, and Jimmy started digging.

"I wouldn't put it past her if she got riled up enough."

It took a few more trade offs, but they finally got the coffin cleared, and opened.

That's when things got a little odd. Someone screamed, the EMF meter screeched, and Jimmy just narrowly avoided getting thrown into a tree as the spirit realized what they were doing and tried to defend its body. Thankfully, the spirit of Richard Noel had realized a little too late and Sam was able to light the remains on fire.

"Who screamed?" Sam asked, helping Jimmy up.

"I don't know, but if I hadn't moved, I would've hit the tree." Jimmy froze, looking at the other side of the grave. A woman in white was standing there, watching the flames. "Sam, I think that's the wife …" The pictures of her showed her as a woman that wasn't really all that attractive, eyes too close and too deeply set with a square jaw, but now she seemed to glow with a beauty the pictures hadn't captured.

"Ma'am, you should move on now." Sam said, attracting her attention. She regarded him and Jimmy for a moment. "I'm sure Tia's waiting for you."

She smiled at that, and vanished into light.

"I guess she wanted to make sure her husband couldn't hurt anyone else." Jimmy glanced at Sam, who nodded. The previous hunts had been much more boring.

* * *

They made it back to the room after filling in the grave, and Sam had collapsed into the bed Adam vacated when they entered, only to groan as his phone rang. "Hello?"

"S-sam?" A woman's voice asked, she sounded scared.

Sam sat up. "Who is this? Are you alright?" Jimmy and Adam both looked at him, stopping whatever they were doing to listen.

"Lori, Lori Sorenson? You saved me and my Dad from the Hook Man?" The woman's voice continued to tremble.

"Lori, what's wrong?" He had mostly forgotten about her, to be honest, but he did remember he had understood her frustration with her father and fear at the deaths happening around her.

"There's something watching me … it's got black and silver eyes … Sam, please, I need your help." She sobbed, sounding like she was about to burst into tears. "The note said I only had 8 hours before it came for me and your number."

"Lori, hang on, try to lock yourself in a room with salt and holy water and we'll be there as soon as we can."

Suddenly, Lori's voice changed- it was no longer scared, but confident and mocking. "Bit late for that, Sweetness, the idiot didn't call you when I broke her window last night." Sam heard something that sounded like a cry muffled by a gag.

"What have you done to her?" He gestured at Jimmy and Adam who immediately started packing, Jimmy gently rousing Claire who took a little longer to start moving.

"A few cuts, some taunts, really Sweetness, I thought Dean was the type to lead girls on." The demon chuckled. "Don't worry, I won't kill her before you and her get to see each other again." Sam felt his throat lock as a muffled scream sounded in the back ground. "Maiming, however, is another book altogether. Tick Tock, Sweetness."

"Sam?" Adam was gripping his arm as the phone disconnected.

"We've got to hurry." Sam managed, and they were on the road as quickly as possible.

* * *

 **What can I say? Horrible Person.**

 **Next Chapter is back with Meg, and what she's done to Lori.**


	8. An Ever Spinning Wheel

**Summary:** Meg's stepped up her game, and Sam ends up stepping up his game as well, thanks to way too many people having a need to 'do something' personality.

 **Warnings:** Torture, it's censored, but still fairly descriptive. Also, I have no idea what type of phone Sam had in Season 1. Sorry.

 **An Ever Spinning Wheel**

Lori was an extremely easy target, even for a college student. She didn't pay attention to those around her, wrapped up in her studies and her own head. Even after Meg had broken her window with a brick, giving her Sam's number and a warning, the girl hadn't paid much attention.

It was annoying, but still amusing to see Lori freak out when Meg walked up to her looking just like her, save black and silver eyes, and start attacking. Poor Lori hadn't stood a chance, even though she tried to throw a salt shaker at her.

Lori's old sorority house was still vacated- there was the faded bloody message still on the wall, and Meg supposed that the stigma of having a murder there left it better as an unoccupied haunted house.

It had been even more amusing to access the girl's memories, and realize the idiot still carried a small torch for her mystery guy. Meg had barely been able to stop laughing at that- of course, in Lori's defense, not a lot of guys wanted to date a girl who had a murderous stalker who was never caught, but still, she probably could have been a bit more active in the dating department.

"It's really funny, you know, how often you thought of him coming back and starting a life with you. I know he hasn't thought much of you since." Meg stretched out on the bed next to the chair she had tied Lori too. The girl, well, woman, was shaking and crying quietly. "Don't feel bad, there were a few near death experiences, I understand, his brother was torn apart in front of him, but really, it's amusing you've still got this crush on him." Meg checked the time on the cell phone. "You're not wrong about avenging angels, you know, they're terrifying and beautiful to behold, but they don't really do much to protect humans unless they can use them in some way. That faith of yours will get you in trouble somewhere down the line."

Lori gave a soft whimper as Meg gently patted her leg. "Oh, don't be like that, I'm doing you a favor, Sweet Sammy is rushing to your rescue as we speak, he's got about 6 hours before he gets here, though, so we have plenty of time to have some girl talk. You know there's a prophet writing everything he and his brother do? That's how I found you, of course, you would just think it was fiction, but someday in the future, they'll be known as the Winchester Gospels." Meg chuckled. "Or the Supernatural Gospels, hard to say."

Lori screamed through the gag as Meg absently broke the girl's wrist, before checking the time on her phone again.

"It will be a little easier than going after possible Angelic Vessels, I only know a few, you see, and should probably space them out a bit more." Meg sighed and stood up. "Sit tight, I'm going to need to get a few things, don't worry, no one's gonna miss you until it's too late."

Meg hummed as she got the things she'd need, a hacksaw, a blow torch and some scrap metal.

"Hello, Lori, I'm back, did you miss me?"

Lori kept passing out while Meg removed her left hand with the hacksaw, eventually, she gave up on keeping the girl awake.

Thoughtfully, Meg removed the gag so Lori could throw up when she woke up and smelled the burnt skin from using the blowtorch to cauterize the stump. That done, Meg started on molding the scrap metal into a hook shape.

"I really should look into some drugs for when I do this to my next victims. It's getting annoying to have people pass out while I'm working on them." Meg commented when Lori woke up.

"Please …" Lori whimpered, seeing the hook.

Meg heard the floor creak, and that was the only warning she got before Holy Water splashed between them. She looked up to see Sam and Lori's father standing there. "Sweetness, you came … and you brought a friend … Where's Jimmy and Adam?"

"S-sam?" Lori whimpered.

"Why are you doing this?" Sam demanded, eyes darting to Lori only briefly. "Who are you?"

"I told you, I want to have fun with you … names aren't all that important, Sweetness."

Lori whimpered, and Meg whirled around to see a cop and Jimmy pulling her away. Lori's Dad started the exorcism as Sam tried to lunge at her with the knife, but Meg just laughed, tossing them both into the wall under the old bloody message. "Sweetness, this round is over, Jimmy Dear, let's see if you're any better this next go round." With that, she jumped out the window and grinned as she took off running.

Sam watched her go, feeling more than a little ill at the sight of Lori's mutilated hand on the ground, and the hook next to it.

"Paramedics are on their way, she's going into shock." The Sheriff noted, voice carrying from his place guiding Lori down the stairs, though Sam wasn't paying much attention.

"What did she mean, about Mr. Novak?" Pastor Sorenson asked, guiding Sam away from the scene.

"The Demon … she possessed his wife. I rescued them, but she came back to kill her at the hospital."

"She?" The Sheriff asked as they came out. Lori was quietly crying, staring at nothing, and not responding to either Jimmy's soft spoken words or her dad's presence.

"It's easier to refer to them by the gender of their vessels."

"So, salt rounds really repel ghosts, then?" The sheriff asked, looking skeptical.

"And bothers just about every other supernatural creature." Sam nodded, and swallowed as he looked at Lori. "I'm sorry, I …"

"Kid, you know how many stalkers my office gets reports about?" The Sheriff interrupted. "Almost every year, there's dozens of them, one or two of them getting to the point of the stalker trying to isolate their victim by frightening or hurting the victims' family and friends. You've got a demonic stalker problem, what that crazy bitch does is not your fault."

"He's right, if Lori was not at fault for the actions of the hook man, then you're not at fault for the actions of a demon." Jimmy added, and was startled as Lori whimpered.

"Lori, s- baby, talk to me." Pastor Sorenson sat down with his daughter, the sound of sirens approaching.

"Sam?" Lori asked, and Sam hesitantly crouched in front of her. "S-sam … why?"

"… Lori, I … I'm sorry."

"We'll explain more when she's feeling better." Jimmy suggested, pulling Sam away as the ambulance arrived.

"I'll let you know when that is." The Sheriff nodded.

Jimmy swiped the keys from Sam, having a feeling that it would be better if he drove. The instant they were in the car, Sam pulled out a blackberry phone and started looking things up.

"Where did you get that?"

"Have half a dozen old cell phones, most of them aren't usable save to call 911- an emergency feature that most phones have." Sam continued looking through whatever data was left on the phone, and Jimmy headed towards their motel.

* * *

Claire almost knocked Adam over when the sound of the impala pulled in front of their conjoined motel rooms. "Sam wasn't driving." She noted with surprise, and Adam paused his research into the different illnesses caused by the supernatural, (currently, he was on the croatoan virus, due to it being so recent).

"He's traded off with your dad before."

"But he doesn't really like it." Claire pointed out, and Adam had to concede the point. "Daddy looks worried, too."

" … Yeah …" Adam had a bad feeling about this. "Maybe we should tell them about our idea later, okay?"

"Okay." Claire agreed.

Jimmy promptly scooped Claire into a hug the instant he was through the door. Sam promptly checked them and the two rooms, before sitting across from Adam and pulling up his own laptop and a pad of paper that he started writing on. The start of an uncomfortable silence was thankfully broken before it could start.

A familiar theme song came on in the next room, and Claire perked up. "MASH is back on! I like Father Mulchahy!" She said as an explanation, before tugging Jimmy to come watch it with her. Jimmy absently closed the door over, leaving Adam and Sam in their room.

"MASH?"

"Yeah, there's a marathon of it right now." Adam watched as Sam's eyes flickered to the phone. "Did … Is the girl alive?" Adam asked, and Sam's expression shuttered.

"Yeah, but … the demon cut off her hand."

"Like the hook man?" He asked. Sam nodded, and Adam had a feeling that he should change the subject, but decided to press on. "She's getting more violent."

"I noticed." Sam's tone was flat.

Adam should definitely change the subject, but he also had something that was bothering him. "But the Novaks, Mom and I, and now Lori … it's not exactly a pattern, either."

"What do you mean?" Sam looked at him.

"I'm related, it makes a twisted sort of sense that she went after me. You know Lori, there are books that prove that. So why did she start with the Novaks? People you don't know, and who Dad never came into contact."

"… You're right." If she had known about Adam, why hadn't she gone after him first? Even with just three attacks, there was something very odd about going after a stranger, then backing up and going after a family member, and then someone he knew. "Maybe it has to do with the angels?"

"Bobby's found nothing regarding Angelic vessels- then again, the only book he's found that might have a clue is in a dead language."

"Which means our answer is probably in that book."

Sam's phone rang, interrupting Adam's response. While Sam answered it, Adam went over to the connecting door and looked in to see Claire curled up against Jimmy and intent on watching Hawkeye and B.J. become annoyed with one Frank Burns over a purple heart. "Jimmy, you should stay with Claire, I'm going to go with Sam."

Jimmy looked up and nodded, before looking back at Claire who giggled at the show.

Sam didn't say anything about Adam coming with him. Sam didn't really seem to be paying attention as he drove, only focusing when the Sheriff and Pastor Sorenson ushered them into a private waiting room.

"She's out of surgery and resting, but I want that explanation now. Why did a demon kidnap and maim my daughter?"

"Lori, along with several others, are what the demon called Angelic Vessels- we don't know what that means, exactly, just that she's going after people I or my father knew that are these vessels because she wants to 'play' with me."

"So, I wasn't wrong saying she is the demonic version of a stalker." The Sheriff noted.

"No sir. Pastor Sorenson, I swear, I never wanted this to happen."

"It's alright, why did she maim my daughter?"

"The demon carved me up with symbols we don't know the meanings of." Adam pulled his shirt up to show the stitches. "She's getting more personal with each victim, we think."

"And it won't be long before the bitch kills someone before you can save them, am I right?" The Sheriff sighed. "You work under the radar, because most of your monsters are under the radar."

"People sleep better not knowing what's really out in the dark." Sam watched the Sheriff pace away and then walk back.

"Alright, I got a judge that owes me a favor."

"Sir?"

"I'd like to limit the amount of technically illegal vigilantism I can be considered an accessory for. I'll be sending some consulting paperwork to you as well- you been to college?"

"Pre-Law at Stanford."

"That'll work."

"Uh, Sir, my other brother and I have a record with the FBI …"

"Wouldn't be the first time the FBI screwed something up, I'm sure." The Sheriff muttered. "I remember seeing that. You're listed as Dead, as I recall … I'll talk to my judge friend, he might know a way around that."

"You don't have to-"

"Son, did it ever occur to you that _maybe_ I became a sheriff because I wanted to protect people?" The Sheriff rolled his eyes at Sam's look. "I couldn't sit back and let the girl I liked in high school get harassed, and got into a fight with my wife's stalker back in college. You might want to consider getting more allies if you're going to try and protect every possible target that demon can go after."

"Pastor, your daughter is awake, she wants to see you and a 'Sam'?" A nurse poked her head in the door. "We'd like to limit visits with non-family members to five minutes."

"Alright."

Lori looked even whiter than the sheets on her hospital bed. Sam couldn't look at the stump where her hand used to be.

"Lori … I'm sorry, I need to know if the demon said anything about her plans …"

"Girl Talk." Lori responded, not looking at Sam. "She said, there were stories, in the future, they'd be called Supernatural Gospels or something, that the Author was a prophet." She almost looked at him before focusing back on the wall. "She … only knows a few Vessels, she was gonna start adding people from the books …" Lori started to cry. "She said my name was in them."

"Shh, it's over." Her father gently gripped her hand, and looked up at Sam.

"I'll go." Sam moved away, he didn't see Lori watch him go, and when he glanced back, her face was buried in her father's shirt.

Sam was barely aware of Adam coming up to him. The Sheriff was quiet, and didn't react when Sam passed him sheets of paper.

"These are anti-demon wards and protections. If you have any questions, you have my number."

"Stick in town for a couple of days if you can, and warn me if you have to leave." The Sheriff took it.

"We will." Adam watched as Sam moved mechanically to the exit. "Sam …" Adam held back from offering to drive, but Sam did stop at the driver's side to look over the top of the Impala at him. Every question he wanted to ask died at the look on his half-brother's face. _If a patient tries to stonewall you, best thing to do is change the subject and work back._ "You're not alone, you know."

"Yeah, I know." Sam said after a moment, sliding into the car.

"But none of us are Dean." Adam said as he copied Sam. Sam's hand froze from turning the keys in the ignition. "You got a dad, a girl, and a half-brother who's pretty busted up, and only one of us is any good in the field."

"That's," Sam started the car in an attempt to non-verbally change the subject.

"Not what you're thinking right now, but it is part of it." Adam felt his stitches pull slightly, and he sincerely hoped that he could take them out soon. "We're not going to be any sort of replacement for Dean, and we all know that, but we're not going to let you suffer alone, alright? We're here for you, whatever you may need."

"… The Demons going to go after everyone in those dumb books, and there's no way I can help them all- I don't even have numbers for most of them."

"I'll start using Facebook and Google to find them; Jimmy can find the author, and maybe we can convince him to change the names when he writes." Adam grimaced- he'd made it through a good portion of the books trying to learn about their dad- there were a lot of names mentioned in the books.

"I don't know-"

"Sam, if you had found out about me before a demon got to me, what would you have done?"

"… Shown you how to protect your mom and yourself, so you wouldn't be in danger." Sam reluctantly admitted, earning a small smile from Adam. "Most of them only know about vengeful spirits, though." Sam pulled into the motel. "And not all of them are in states where shotguns are easy to get to."

"What about recorded exorcisms?"

"Easier to send over email." Sam knocked in a pattern on the door.

Jimmy met them, and Claire hugged Sam and then Adam.

"Claire, you might want to tell them about your idea now instead of later."

"Daddy, guess what me and Adam came up with?" Claire immediately pulled away to grab a hobby magazine. "Sam, you guess too!"

"I have no idea, Claire-bear." Jimmy sat down on a bed.

"Err, a hobby for the road?" Sam glanced at Adam, who grinned but didn't give his older brother a hint.

"Nope! I was thinking we could put Holy Water in a squirt gun, or Holy Water and Salt in a water balloon, but then mythbusters was on, and maybe we could do Holy Water and Salt in paint balls instead, and then Adam and me could have some protection if we have to go to the library while you're both away." Claire said in a rush, and it took a moment for Sam and Jimmy to comprehend everything she had just said.

"Squirt gun and water balloons sound … good." Jimmy did not want his little girl using an actual handgun, ever. Amelia would probably come back to haunt him, for one.

"Can you even get empty paintballs? Though the guns are kinda big …" Sam blinked as Claire shoved the hobby magazine at him, open to a page showing handgun like paintball guns.

"Yeah, I thought they only had rifle-like things, but apparently, there are competitions and they even include paintball version of grenades and landmines." Adam shook his head. "And you can get your own empty paintball shells, though I'm not clear on how you're supposed to fill them …"

"Non-lethal to humans … I guess we could look into it." Sam offered, glancing at Jimmy who was looking a little unsure about the idea.

"I think Claire should start with a squirt gun and water balloons." Jimmy decided, and Claire climbed back onto his lap to hug him.

"Okay, Dad."

"I'll start looking up names from the books, you better call anyone who's number you still have." Adam suggested, already typing in the first name he remembered reading.

"What?" Jimmy looked at them in concern.

"Demon isn't just going after Angelic Vessels now, it's adding the people mentioned in those Supernatural books." Sam explained.

"… I'll see if anyone has found more information about the author, then." Jimmy sighed. It wasn't going well, as the Publishing House had gone out of business a week ago, and no one seemed able to know Edlund Carver's publishing agent.

"I'll help Adam with the names!" Claire volunteered, and then yawned.

"I think it's bed time for you, Claire-bear." Jimmy corrected, and reluctantly, Claire agreed and said good night to everyone.

* * *

 **The Holy Water filled Squirt gun, water balloons, and paintballs will eventually come back into play. I wanted a non-lethal to humans method for Claire to defend herself, and something with less recoil for Adam while he still has the stitches in. (They're coming out in the next couple of chapters, but it's been driving Sam and I nuts he can't currently handle a gun.)**

 **I'm debating about including Iron filings in the paintballs, so thoughts would be appreciated.**

 **Another version of this idea was an airsoft rifle that shot sabot rounds of salt, but I'm even less confident of the logistics of such a thing than I am of the paintball idea.**

 **Lori will not be joining the team, Meg did a number on her physically and emotionally.**

 **Next Chapter: Meg once again gets an unpleasant surprise. And an old friend makes a reappearance.**


	9. Unwanted Surprises

**Summary:** Meg has an unpleasant surprise after unpleasant surprise, and it's not any consolation that Sam (as far as she knows) receives a small one as well, damn it. Meanwhile, a certain Queen of Hell is furious at her own unwanted surprise.

 **Warnings:** Uh, spoilers for episodes, mentions of previous romantic partners … That's about it. Oh, and some theories on demons and hell's structure.

 **Unwanted Surprises**

Meg had planned on going after Lori again; she'd even taunted Jimmy about it. She even copied a petite red-headed nurse that would work nightshift.

But Sam had given the Pastor wards to block her from Lori's room, so now … She was perched outside their motel rooms. Jimmy hadn't pulled the blackout curtains yet, so she could see him reading something. Claire was sleeping.

Castiel was probably a mindless soldier of heaven right now, but Meg couldn't deny that a small part of her attraction to the Angel had been his vessel's appearance.

If only he hadn't kept picking the Winchesters over her.

Jimmy got up, spoke to someone that was in the other room, and pulled the blackout curtains.

She barely had time to duck behind the Impala as Jimmy stepped out, heading to the motel's office.

The clerk didn't even look up as Jimmy entered, or when Meg did, but he did react to the click of the lock.

"What-" Meg flung him against the wall knocking him out. Jimmy whirled, and Meg threw him into the vending machine in order to get him to drop the gun he tried to pull. She kicked it away from him quickly.

"Did you miss me?" Meg pinned him to the ground. "We didn't really get a chance to play, did we Jimmy?"

"I prefer not to play with strangers." Jimmy retorted, struggling underneath her.

"Now, where's the fun in that?" Meg teased absently, taking in the familiar features. Despite herself, she still wanted Castiel, but she'd have to wait for her Unicorn to change into the person she wanted.

Until then, however, she could make do with just the vessel, Meg decided, and kissed Jimmy. He bit her in response, and she couldn't help but laugh as she broke the kiss.

It wasn't her angel, but she could still have fun.

The door shattered in the middle of her laugh, and Meg was startled as a force pushed her away from Jimmy. She looked up to see Sam standing there, looking extremely surprised where he was standing in the midst of the glass, one hand slightly outstretched.

"You used your powers, Sweetness." Meg smiled. "I think I'll count that as a win for you this time."

She threw Sam back and took off, heading back to her lair. Sam hadn't needed demon blood to use his powers, though the blood did give him the extra strength to use them without burning his mind out or killing himself, but his desire not to use them because of Dean's fear of them making Sam evil had eventually given him a mental block that left Sam unable to use the powers unless he was drinking the blood.

Since Dean was out of the way right now, Sam was supposed to be more inclined to try and learn how to use them, (he'd said as much, hadn't he?) but his guilt at doing so would cripple his abilities without him knowing or realizing. (It was another reason Ruby had started him on the blood, in order to lower his inhibitions and poison his conscience so he'd use them at full power.) Sam was probably freaking out right now that he had used them at all, how Jimmy would react was an unknown.

Sam wouldn't be able to exorcise demons this go round, but if his team encouraged it, he'd be able to fight more on a supernatural level.

It could be a small problem for her game, but it wasn't something she hadn't planned for.

Now, her next target was one she had suspicion about- Dean had been rather enamored of Cassie Robinson to reveal he hunted the supernatural to her, combined with one of the conversations she'd had with Castiel about Angels in general (cupids in particular) it was quite possible a Cupid had paired the two trying to continue the Winchester line, meaning Cassie herself was a fairly strong potential Angelic Vessel. (From what she could figure out about Cassie's personality, it wouldn't be the first time a cupid was thwarted by birth control and the morning after pill.) In fact, she had a good hunch that any of the females that the Winchesters slept with that weren't hookers and waitresses were possible Angelic Vessels to continue their line, but no real proof thanks to Dean's ability to flirt with anything that moved, and the fact that some Angels would prefer Sam to cease to exist.

On that note, after Cassie she'd be going after Sarah Blake, just in case.

* * *

Back in the motel office, the Sheriff was taking Jimmy and Sam's statements about the damage caused.

"So, she wasn't going to double back for Lori, but Mr. Novak instead." The Sheriff sighed. "The Motel owner has a concussion, I'll pull security footage, but I think I'll just report it as a person trying to rob the motel and getting interrupted- That's what I'd have put if I didn't know about the demon."

"Sorry about that."

The Sheriff just waved them and the apology off and walked over to the deputies that were waiting nearby.

Sam and Jimmy headed back to their rooms.

"Sam, from what I read of the books, you haven't been able to use your powers since the devil's gate." Jimmy wasn't sure if he was trying to ask a question or state a fact. Sam's attitude towards the books was to try and distance himself from the words on their pages, but Jimmy had a feeling ignoring the elephant herd in the area wasn't going to help them any, it would be better to try and clear it.

"I haven't … Dean didn't want me to use them, and I … I don't want to be a monster." Sam looked at his hands. "All the others … they were so thrilled with how powerful they were." Well, except Lily, but if she had found a way to control her first power, she would have been thrilled. "They were like different people from who they were." He hadn't meant to ever use his powers again, he'd promised Dean, but he'd seen Jimmy pinned, and something in him had panicked and reached out to rescue the man before Sam had even thought to pull out his gun.

"… Well, if you keep using it for emergencies, I don't see the problem."

"The problem is I don't want to go down that path and find out it's a slippery slope instead." Sam remembered how Dean had freaked out, urging him to be a hunter, not … not a monster. He wanted to make Dean proud, even if he wasn't there.

"Do you trust me, Sam?" Jimmy asked, and Sam looked at him in surprise.

"Yes." Sam nodded. Jimmy was trustworthy, and learning quickly how to hunt and guard his back.

"Then trust me to pull you back if you start to slip. You won't drag me down."

"… Alright."

"You guys alright? I saw the police lights …" Adam asked, concerned as they entered.

"The Demon came to attack Jimmy instead of going after Lori. The sheriff is writing it up as an attempted robbery. Everyone's okay." Sam explained.

"Great … can we go to the toy store and get squirt guns tomorrow?"

"Yeah, sure … who's next on the list?"

"I'm pretty sure whoever it is will be asleep by now." Jimmy pointed out, going to check on Claire. "We should all get some sleep, at least a couple of hour's worth. We'll talk about this in the morning after a good rest." Naturally, it didn't work out like Jimmy suggested.

* * *

 _Dean is screaming as a man, no,_ demon _, flays open his chest, sobbing._

' _Dean!' Sam wanted to scream._

" _Well, Dean, what do you say?" The demon asked. "Ready to get off the rack?"_

" _No." Dean choked out._

" _Too bad." The demon purred, one hand going too low for either brothers' liking._

* * *

Adam jerked awake as the lamp on the nightstand between the beds flew and crashed into the far wall.

Sam was not awake, in fact, he was mumbling and clearly not aware something had crashed. Jimmy threw the door open, but Adam had only one focus- his older half brother, who had become the one thing he was really sure of thanks to the demon torturing him with his mother's face.

"Sam, Wake up!" Adam (and Jimmy, who had just closed the door to keep Claire from waking up or getting hurt) ducked as the motel's courtesy iron flew through the air. That was less worrying than the fact his brother's nose was now leaking blood. "Sam, please! Wake up!" There were several things that he knew could be related to the symptom of a bloody nose- a change in humidity, stress, or even a freakin brain hemorrhage.

"Dean, no!" Sam gasped as his eyes opened. It took a longer moment for him to recognize that Adam and Jimmy were standing there in the motel room, and he wasn't watching Dean be torn apart in hell. His arms went around Adam who was right next to him, latching on to the closest living thing he recognized as safe. "No, please, God …"

"Sam …" Adam was more than a little freaked out, but there was little he could do to extract himself. He was more concerned with his brother's nosebleed and the levitation of certain objects to be honest, than his own comfort.

It seemed the demon's attack on Jimmy had done more than trigger Sam's tentative telekinetic powers again.

* * *

Meg calmly strolled up to Cassie and her mother's house, it was isolated enough that no one would hear anything and she wouldn't have to gag either of them. Not that she'd hurt them right now, she was just going to show up as Cassie and frighten the mother with threats implicating Dean and Sam, and then come back at night to really start her fun.

 _What the hell?!_ There was a devil's trap just on the ceiling inside the door, and someone switched on an exorcism disguised as a Gregorian chant the instant Meg had entered. Mrs. Robinson was holding a rosary and looking at her in shock and horror.

Meg was bonded to the shifter, but that didn't mean the exorcism didn't hurt. Meg broke the trap, and managed to interrupt the playback of the computer in the same move thanks to hitting some wiring, but she still quickly backed away, only to get hit with a silver knife Cassie flung at her, just narrowly missing the Shifter's heart.

"How did you know?" Cassie had only known about Ghosts and Spirits! She shouldn't know about her or anything about demons! The Winchesters weren't the type to give up that sort of information willingly, either!

"Sam called." Cassie hefted a water balloon. "Now get out or else."

Meg snarled, weighing her options. Lori had apparently been more intelligent than Meg believed, and told Sam about their girl talk instead of hiding herself in shame. Sam was now reaching out to as many people as possible, somehow realizing that he couldn't protect all of them and telling them how to protect themselves. She could force the attack now, but she could sense the holy water in the water balloon from where she was standing, and it would probably aggravate the silver knife injury.

Better to retreat and regroup with this new information than press her luck, other demons would notice if she wasn't careful.

"Fine, but you better give Sweet Sammy a message- He kicked the game up another level, he better be ready for the consequences." Meg took off as Cassie threw the balloon, hissing as the spray from the holy water balloon (there was a joke there, but she wasn't amused) hit her.

She'd up her game alright, she was going to have to find allies … and there were two possible ones she'd read about, but one would involve her going to Hell to recruit them.

* * *

There were many structures in Hell; if one was strong enough they could manipulate Hell's appearance to suit their needs. As such Lilith had accepted her role as Queen and had spent millennia building herself a palace that suited her needs.

Most importantly, there were the traps and hollow walls she could imprison those that displeased her, their screams and pleads for mercy creating a lovely background music that added to the atmosphere.

"Ruby is dead, you say?" The demons cowering on the floor were nobodies, cannon fodder that were supposed to be killed by her most loyal lieutenant in order for her to gain Samuel Winchester's trust.

Only Ruby wasn't with Sam, an unknown demon (it wasn't an impossible occurrence, Lilith didn't pay much attention to her demons unless they did something to get noticed, and most had the sense to stay out of her notice) was, and seemed to be playing some sort of game with the boy.

Ordinarily, Lilith wouldn't have cared, they needed Sam to break one way or another, and with his older brother currently screaming on the racks he was an excellent target and she'd encouraged her demons to hunt (but not kill) the younger Winchester to make sure Ruby was there to bend him in the right direction.

But Ruby was gone, presumed dead by the demons that'd spotted Sam wielding the knife Lilith had given her, and Lilith had an annoying feeling that should she try to summon her lieutenant, they'd be proven right.

"Y-yes!" Squeaked one of the demons to her previously asked question, not realizing that Ruby's death was not a good thing despite previous orders to hunt the rogue demon. Lilith ripped him from his meat suit (it had been dead for years and burst into flames immediately upon the demon's removal) and flung him through a portal that lead to one of several torturers since Alistair was busy with the older Winchester. The other demons wisely took that as their dismissal and fled.

"One of my cross-roads reported a summoning that was interrupted by another demon, I assumed it was Ruby." The self proclaimed King of the Crossroads commented, calmly sipping some sort of scotch. "Azazel's daughter is corralling his faction, but it wouldn't surprise me if one of them wanted to go after the boy for revenge and slipped her nets."

"Crowley, you better find that demon and bring it to me." Lilith informed him; angry at the fact a demon was acting out, and furious that their actions could delay the release of their Father.

"I don't know what you're upset about; the other still hasn't broken yet." Crowley wasn't too surprised to figure out that Ruby had been playing a double agent- it was a popular ruse to get human sympathy, pretending that a demon would do anything the human asked, including 'defying hell' for them only to reveal when time was up it was a contract with their soul scheduled for Hell in payment … way too many humans fell for it, actually.

"We have plenty of years to break him, and Alistair has no other projects except for him until the boy breaks; but Samuel is on earth, and there time is against us." Lilith crossed her arms. "Find the last demon before Azazel's death that watched over Sam and bring him to me."

Crowley vacated the audience room, recognizing quickly Hell's Queen was in a very dangerous mood, and not interested in being questioned.

Personally, he thought she should make a deal with the living Winchester, but he valued his life too much to point it out. Right now, he'd settle for trying to figure out as much about Lucifer as he could- he hadn't been aware the other was even real until a century or so ago Earth time- and with this whole apocalypse business (which would interfere greatly on his sales) which he'd previously thought had just been creative storytelling.

It was rather annoying, finding out that he hadn't learned as much as he believed, or that Lilith hadn't trusted him as much as he thought. Grant it, it was good to find this out now, before he had sunk into the same unimaginative rut that his predecessor had and gotten killed by a young ambitious demon.

Lilith watched Crowley go and rolled her eyes. She was the first demon, she had seen more plots and schemes of Angels, Demons and Men than she cared to remember, the only thing she could say was that Crowley was vaguely endearing himself to her by still being rather clever about it.

He was probably wondering why she didn't make a deal, not realizing that in order for the last seal to break, a human (preferably Lucifer's Vessel) had to kill her of their own free will- contracts were not allowed. Sure, she could manipulate, confuse and brainwash, but a deal with a contract, no matter how weak, was not allowed and the seal wouldn't break.

She'd kill to have one of the knights with her right now, as they were at least intelligent and had been around as long as she had- but Cain was most likely dead, if not locked away (and he probably found a way to lock himself up, he'd gotten bored with killing, the last time they talked), Abaddon was lost in the time stream, Asmodeus had been locked away by Raphael (given a few hundred years after her death, he was the most likely candidate to become the last seal if things went wrong) and the less said about Beelzebub, the better (either he'd gotten killed while killing the Archangel Gabriel, or he'd joined the pagans).

Lilith sat back on her throne, and started planning contingencies. Just because she'd been around so long didn't mean she was tired or bored with her existence, and it would be boring if everything went her way.

* * *

 **Knights of Hell- I had to start making up my own head cannon for them. Your input is, of course, always welcome, but I'm starting with Beelzebub (Alternate name for Satan or someone separate from Lucifer, depending) and Asmodeus (found in book of Tobit). I'm leaving out Mammon and Astoreth for right now.**

 **Beelzebub is actually a version I made up for** **The Gabriel and Mary Show** **story, but that's the only crossover I have planned- Mary and other things mentioned in that fic will not crossover to this one.**

 **Meg's recruits- that would be telling, you'll either be impressed or hate me.**

 **Past Meg is referred to as Azazel's daughter and Meg; Future Meg is only called Meg from her POV, she's just a unnamed demon to everyone else, though Future Meg will eventually come up with an alias that others will use- I have plans and an outline for this, there's a reason why she picks a name instead of coming up with a *real* name for Past!Meg (popular fanon gives her the name Salome- or at least of few fics that I've read have).**

 **Last Question: How do you all feel about me adding two Characters of my own making? NOT as team members, but people they've encountered on a case that occasionally make appearances until I either kill them off or do something else? I mean, one of them will show up briefly for a case anyway, but I came up with a fun subplot I want to write … if it's not okay, the character will disappear after the case, like the other case characters in the show.**


	10. Means, Odds and Ends

**Summary:** Sam's powers have seemingly returned, there are pros and cons to be considered, and about a hundred cans filled with worms to be dealt with.

 **Note:** The Sheriff in Hook Man is technically only given his Actor's name, Al Humphrey. (I think that's the last name. Not actually sure.)

 **Note 2:** Marathon watched Criminal Minds … A lot of actors are shared between them and apparently, Garth and Jess are serial/spree killers and Lucifer/Nick and Rufus are policemen in the Criminal Minds verse. Now I get why there are crossovers between them …

 **Means, Odds, and Ends**

 _Previously:_

 _Adam jerked awake as the lamp on the nightstand between the beds flew and crashed into the far wall. Sam was not awake, in fact, he was mumbling and clearly not aware something had crashed. Jimmy threw the door open, but Adam had only one focus- his older half brother, who had become the one thing he was really sure of thanks to the demon torturing him with his mother's face._

" _Sam, Wake up!" Adam ducked as the motel's courtesy iron flew through the air. That was less worrying than the fact his brother's nose was now leaking blood. There were several things that he knew could be related to the symptom of a bloody nose- a change in humidity, stress, or even a freakin' brain hemorrhage. "Sam, please! Wake up!"_

" _Dean, no!" Sam gasped as his eyes opened. It took a longer moment for him to recognize that Adam and Jimmy were standing there in the motel room, and he wasn't watching Dean be torn apart in hell. His arms went around Adam who was right next to him, latching on to the closest living thing he recognized as safe. "No, please, God …"_

" _Sam …" Adam was more than a little freaked out, but there was little he could do to extract himself. He was more concerned with his brother's nosebleed and the levitation of certain objects to be honest, than his own comfort._

 _It seemed the demon's attack on Jimmy had done more than trigger Sam's tentative telekinetic powers again._

* * *

Now:

"I saw Dean, he was being tortured by a demon." Sam explained, hands shaking as he held the cup of coffee Jimmy had made. "It felt like a vision." Absently, one hand rested on Claire's head.

Claire had woken up when the iron had crashed into the door, and had been too sleepy to understand much beyond 'Sam had a bad dream'. She had immediately pulled herself up onto the bed with him, with a sleepy explanation that nightmares went away when people shared beds, (Adam and Sam had looked at Jimmy, who explained that sometimes Claire would have nightmares that had her climbing into bed with him and his wife, she didn't mean anything else, and would they please get their minds out of the gutter?) and had fallen promptly asleep on Sam. Jimmy grabbed a spare blanket to throw over her, and told Sam not to wake her.

"You were bleeding from the nose, has that ever happened before?" Adam had grabbed the journal he'd been cataloging his notes on supernatural injuries and illnesses, and was now writing down everything Sam said. He'd have to check out the books regarding anything and everything regarding Sam's powers.

"Maybe? I don't really remember." Sam was tired, but the memory of what he saw kept coming back with a surge of guilt. Dean was being tortured while he sat here and did nothing.

"Hey, don't think about it." Jimmy gently whacked Sam on the head with a spare pillow. "Dean wouldn't want you to dwell."

"I know, but … he's there, being tortured, because of me."

"Sam," Adam started, only to be cut off by Jimmy.

"Dean's there because he chose to sell his soul, Sam. Yes, he did it for you, but not because of you." Jimmy corrected. "The demon said that angels were supposed to pull him out, right?"

"I can't exactly trust her." Sam pointed out.

"You can trust us, though." Adam put down his journal. "We'll help you find a way to get him back, that doesn't require making a deal."

"Yeah, I know, it doesn't make it any easier." Sam sighed, one hand coming up to rub at his eyes.

"Duh." Adam rolled his eyes, before picking up his journal again. "Now back to a slightly more critical topic, you've gone from death visions to hell nightmares that are probably visions, and you just threw things around the room. You should probably learn to block or control them so that doesn't happen."

"Dean didn't want me to use them, I mean, I have them because I have demon blood."

"You mentioned that before, what does that mean?" Jimmy noted, he hadn't pried, and there was an understanding that the book(s) regarding Cold Oak and the Devil's Gate were temporarily off limits.

"Azazel dropped his blood into my mouth when I was 6 months old. Mom tried to stop him so he killed her. He did that to all the special children." Sam glanced down at Claire who was doing a wonderful impression of a limpet and clinging very tightly to him in her sleep. "That's why I have powers, and why Dad told Dean to kill me if he couldn't save me."

"Dad said _what_?" Adam didn't remember reading that- well, he remembered Dad telling Dean something before he died that made Dean upset, but he'd been more focused on the fact Dad had apparently died without telling them they had a younger brother. (He felt oddly betrayed, had his mom and him meant anything to the guy?) The idea that his dad had been willing to kill off one of his offspring did not sit well with him, especially for something outside his control.

"Before he died, apparently. Dean didn't tell me for months." Sam closed his eyes. "They're not safe for me to use."

"They're not safe if you can't control them, either." Jimmy sat down in a chair. "Like I said before, we won't let you fall, you can trust us, and I'll keep saying it until you believe it."

"Thanks, Jimmy." Sam looked at Adam who was writing something in his journal, and scowling. "Adam," He started, and this time, it was Adam's turn to cut someone off.

"Sam, you were a baby when you got the blood, you didn't choose to drink it, and it's been scientifically proven that blood doesn't control who we are or what we do. Dad had no right to decide whether you lived or died." Adam wiped a hand across his eyes, which were suddenly and suspiciously bright. "He always told me that you don't give up on family." There was a slightly bitter tone to the words.

"So, don't." Jimmy offered, but this time neither of them paid attention, so Jimmy quietly got up and headed into his room so they could sort it out.

"Dad wasn't Father of the Year material, I'll be the first to admit to that." Sam had awkwardly grabbed onto Adam's shoulder, trying to stretch without jostling Claire. "But he always did the best he could. It might not have been the right thing, but Dad knew he was going to die, and he didn't have time to tell Dean everything. He was desperate, and that caused him to make,"

"'Bad choices', better be what you're going to say." Adam muttered, and Sam just nodded.

"That he might not have made otherwise." Sam continued. "He wasn't perfect, but he was a good Dad when it counted."

Adam nodded, agreeing to Sam's statement, before adding, "I still want to be mad at him." Not telling Adam he had brothers, not warning him about demons or the supernatural, there were so many things that John hadn't told him about himself or the other side of his family, and it was frustrating he couldn't talk to him and get his reasoning behind these decisions. (He couldn't describe the feelings exactly, but Adam felt glad he had Sam, at least, in his life now.)

"Join the club." Sam glanced down at Claire. "I think the rest of this mess can wait until morning, though I'm going to be missing a chunk of my side."

"Why's that?" Adam put down the journal as he settled back under his covers.

"Claire is like a miniature heater … I don't think she's sick, though." Sam felt like Claire was burning a hole where she was pressed against him.

"She's not, that's part of the reason parents try to insist kids sleep in their own beds, they are all like miniature heaters." Jimmy turned off the lights. "Now go to sleep."

Sam listened as Adam fell asleep, Jimmy's soft snores signaling when the other had fallen asleep. Carefully, he turned on a small reading lamp Adam had placed on the nightstand, and picked up the first of the supernatural books. Adam had been going through, he noted, putting post-it notes with questions and notes on times and dates (and names). Sam spent the rest of the night skimming through the books, reliving memories, and he smiled when he found a small note on Dean in Adam's writing, with a tiny note in Claire's. (Which was less odd considering she and Adam spent a lot of time together and she was a curious child.)

' _My oldest brother is crazy.'_ Adam had decided upon Dean's opening prank in the book covering their intro to the Ghostfacers.

' _I like him!'_ Was Claire's decision, the exclamation had a heart for the dot.

(He stopped before Cold Oak, not ready to read about those events just yet, or those that came after.)

* * *

When morning came and the others woke up, they started to work through the list they had compiled of people they could find, and Sam took a moment to step outside and call Bobby.

He wasn't impressed with the request for help. "Are you crazy? You want to give how many civilians Demon wardings?"

"Bobby, look, the Demon is now going after anyone mentioned in the Supernatural books. I need your help getting in contact with as many people as we can find, possibly including hunters my dad knew." Sam took a breath. "Please, Bobby, we saved these people, Dean and I, her going after them … it's like she's trying to take away more of my brother."

"I didn't say I wasn't going to help, idjit," Bobby's tone had softened, but it still spoke volumes about what he thought of Sam's request, "I'll get Ellen's help, but you'll have to call Rufus and warn him."

"Thanks Bobby, sorry for dragging you into this."

"You didn't drag me into anything, idjit. A few cases of beer will even the score." Bobby hung up, and Sam let out a breath before offering to take Claire to find a squirt gun and get them lunch.

* * *

It was a bit of a surprise when Cassie Robinson called them in the afternoon.

"She was here." Cassie informed him, she sounded a little tired, but alright. "She was pretty pissed, though, said you were the one that stepped up the game, so she's going to as well."

"Are you alright?" Sam thought his throat was going to tighten up until he couldn't breathe. That was too fast, he would not have made it to them in time.

"We're fine. Now, I've been looking some things up, and I think, with Jimmy's help, I can find your mysterious Author. I can also find some of the people you can't." Cassie informed him, something thudding in a background and her muttering a curse.

"How?" He asked, a little surprised that she was volunteering. Then again, he'd liked meeting Cassie because she was one of the few people that could put Dean back on his heels.

"Sam, I'm a reporter and editor, I run our small town's paper; I can definitely interview people for a book without raising too much suspicion. Speaking of, congratulations, you are now a reporter for our paper."

"Wait, what?" Sam blinked.

"Sam, you and Dean are cute, but did it ever occur to you that if you asked, other people could help you out, _legally_?" Cassie sounded smug. "I paid attention to the 'wanted by the FBI' news, you were never actually convicted, just suspected and arrested and then presumed dead. I can write a very convincing series of articles, or even a book, on how you two were never guilty, just a pair of wandering brothers with bad luck. People would believe it."

"… Have you been talking to the sheriff of this place?" Sam was more than a little surprised at Cassie's decision. She hadn't wanted to stick with Dean, he'd though she hadn't wanted anything more to do with them.

"First thing this morning, Al and I came to an agreement. Now, I need the numbers and addresses of Becky, Zach and Sarah Blake." When Sam didn't respond, she heaved a sigh. "If Dean hadn't played the 'stay with mom' card, I would have joined you guys. I want to help you, Sam, and this time, I'm not taking 'no' for an answer."

"Why?"

"Because Dean always lit up when he talked about you- yeah, he told me about you when we were dating- and when we broke up I almost went to Stanford to ask you if he was telling the truth. Plus, I've never been good at sitting and waiting for something to happen, so let me help you."

"… You were captain of the debate team, weren't you?" Sam smiled, touched but still a little stunned at the offer of help.

"Damn straight." Cassie huffed. "Now, get me those numbers and addresses, Pretty Boy, plus the list of people you can't locate, and a couple pictures of this half brother and you, and I will start my own brand of hunting. Pretty sure I can make it to St. Louis if I leave now."

"Yes Ma'am. Anything else?" Sam wondered if she knew just how similar to Dean she sounded right then.

"I got a synopsis of the books from a fansite, I think you better meet with that Lisa Braeden again."

"Why?"

"Because she only _tells_ Dean she got the test done, she doesn't show him any papers, and if that Demon is reading the books and targeting those close to you..." She trailed off.

"A potential nephew would do it." Sam closed his eyes. He hadn't even considered that. "Thanks, Cassie."

"No problem. I'll keep in touch!"

Sam hung up, just as Jimmy did with a small frown.

"Something wrong?"

"The next name is a studio writer for _Hell Hazers 2: The Reckoning_."

"I saw that movie, it was pretty good." Adam noted, not really paying attention as he typed up notes trying to locate the kids from _Wendigo_. "Especially since the characters actually put up a fight instead of just letting themselves get killed in stupid ways."

"I'm not sure I'm the one that should be calling him." Jimmy shot Adam a brief look of bemusement before turning back to Sam. "I'm more likely to get an aide."

"I can ask Cassie, she's volunteered to get the ones we can't." Sam wasn't up for talking to the guy either.

Someone knocked on the door, and Sam quickly crossed over to open it. The Sheriff stood there with a small stack of papers which he handed Sam.

"Read, sign, get them back to me before you leave." He looked at the mess of papers and notes. "Anything I can help you with?"

"Actually, yes, there were some members of law enforcement my brother and I helped, a Detective Diana Ballard in Baltimore, Warden Deacon in Green River county, and a deputy my brother and I met in Minnesota, though that case turned out to be normal humans, her name is in the book and she won't want to hear from any of us." Sam explained, and Adam quickly gave the Sheriff a sticky note with the name and town the deputy had worked, along with a few details about the incident with the Benders that wouldn't have been included.

"I'll look into it. Don't forget those papers." The Sheriff nodded, and left.

* * *

 **Next: Meg's plans get yet another hit, but it works in her favor this time, sort of.**

 **Do you know how awkward it is to write something and not include Sheriff Mills? I want to include her so badly … I just can't think of how to do so just yet.**

 **I'm also thinking this is just going to turn into just a season 4 rewrite, with a sequel containing one-shots about how the rest of the seasons would change.**


	11. Hope it Gives You Hell

**Summary:** Meg really, really, hates Crowley. In fact, she has an entirely separate revenge plan for him. She'll settle for ruining his day, right now though, and getting her new BFF.

 **Hope It Gives You Hell**

Meg was _pissed_. She'd been on her way to get her first helper, luckily finding a blonde to copy, and of course, that bastard Crowley caught her crossing state lines.

Well, that mangy hellhoud of his did, at least. Damn mutt had cornered her between some wards and a natural formed Salt lick.

"Hullo, there's someone that wants to talk to you." Crowley popped up a moment later with some lackeys. "I'm Crowley, you may have heard of me, and you are?"

"Call me Gem." Meg braced herself, because this was not going to go well and even for demons, getting forced into Hell was painful. Sadly, she wasn't quite ready to kill Crowley yet … mostly because she was still undecided on the appropriate and most satisfactory way to kill the bastard.

"Cute, copying the dearly departed Ruby?" Was the only thing Crowley said before he brought them both to Hell- or tried to.

Mid-way through the transport, Meg hit Crowley with a fun bit of Sanskrit that had his blood boiling- literally- and pulled out of his hold, transporting herself away.

Meg stumbled as she landed, knowing that if she wasn't quick, she'd lose this golden window at getting a competent, non-demon, helper.

Her target wasn't too far into Hell, in fact, she was rather handily evading a group of demons at the moment; it was a popular game for bored demons, allowing the souls off the racks so they could try to escape, and the demons would hunt them down and punish them for trying to escape. (Not that they could, most exits were guarded or sealed, though Meg knew a few hidden exits.)

"Hello, Bela." Meg smirked as the woman whirled. Despite the woman having been a means to an end, Lilith had stopped caring about her the instant the hellhounds sunk their teeth in, meaning she was sent to the first available torturer that wasn't Alistair.

"Damnit," the woman hissed, and Meg rolled her eyes.

"Relax, Beauty, I'm going to help you escape. We'll discuss deals back on good old terra firma." Meg grabbed the extremely reluctant soul- it was only a little tainted, she noted with surprise, as conniving and sinful as the woman had been, there was still a large part of her resisting Hell, and admittedly the time it took to turn someone into a demon varied drastically from person to person- and pulled her to one of the handful of secret exits Meg had discovered after Lucifer had risen.

* * *

Bela jerked awake, feeling cold despite the heavy and coarse blanket on top of her. She'd been given a chance to escape- her tormentors had taken great glee in offering her the chance, although they'd been oddly distracted by something happening somewhere else. _"Afterall, you just had to come to hell once your deal was due, you don't have to stay."_ Bela rolled over and recognized the demon that yanked her out.

"And Sleeping Beauty awakens, bout damn time. You know what a pain it was to get your body all nice without letting Lilith know? You're rather scarred, by the way, sorry about that."

"What do you want?" Bela tried to sit up, only to realize she wasn't wearing clothes. She tugged the blanket up.

"Can we not?" Meg looked at her in annoyance. "You know full well what I want from you. Pulling you out of hell was a freebie and rather draining- I had to use my host's soul in order to do it, and I still had barely enough." She tied up a hex bag and set it next to a small pile.

"Very well, what's your name and how can I help?" Bela wrapped the blanket around her as she went for a set of clothes that were folded on the end of the bed.

"Well, I told Crowley to call me Gem, but I'm not giving away my name just yet. Feel free to call me what you want." Her name backwards, it was so uncreative, but it was unlikely anyone would realize the connection, or they'd thinks she was just copying Ruby, like Crowley had said. "I'm playing a game with one Sam Winchester, probably should have stopped to say hi to Dean, now that I think of it … oh well, anyway, he's gone and recruited help, so I'm doing the same." Meg smirked. "Here's the play."

* * *

Crowley swore as his hound returned, unable to re-locate the demon wench (possessing a shifter, that was a rarity, and something he wouldn't mind having on his side) and still sore from the curse she'd thrown at him. His hound whined, distressed at his master's anger, and Crowley forced himself to calm down. With a pat on the hound's head he reassured it he wasn't angry and sent it after a woman who'd sold her soul to win a lottery.

"Lilith won't be pleased." Crowley sighed, and grabbed some of his scotch. No one liked telling Lilith that they'd failed a task set for them. On the upside he'd found out a few valuable things about the meddling demon. One, she apparently hated him, blood boiling curses were generally reserved for the ones you hated; two, she was strong, maybe on his level, or at least a former lieutenant of an equally powerful demon; third, she had taken one human soul with her, and his hound hadn't found either, so she was capable of hiding herself from pursuit, that he'd been able to catch her the first time had either been luck on his part or planned on hers.

"Crowley, I've heard some interesting things. Care to explain?" Lilith had come up behind him, and he almost choked.

Unsurprisingly, Lilith wasn't pleased when he did explain. She expressed that very clearly.

* * *

Ignorant of the going-ons in Hell, Meg and Bela stood outside a Minnesota 'juvenile correctional' facility for girls. Bela had one of her old boltholes nearby (complete with a car, and Meg was impressed that Bela had even bothered setting up something to take care of it for a date when she knew she was going to Hell). The car was a blue Pontiac Trans-Am, and was now a necessity as Meg discovered her ability to transport herself and another person now had a distance restriction. Raising Bela had drained her a little more than she'd thought.

"Looks like a prison." Bela noted the tall fences and barred windows.

"I think it was converted from one or a mental health facility." Meg shrugged. "C'mon, let's find our girl."

"Missy Bender?" The Head of the facility was surprised to have two women looking to speak to the girl regarding a new program.

"Yes, is there a problem?"

"Well, yes, to be honest, Missy has not … coped, with the removal from her family when she was 13, and has hurt several of our girls over the years. In her own words, 'I like making them scream, it's good sport.'" The Head removed her reading glasses with a sigh. "She's not a psychotic, so drugs are not effective save to make her docile- and before you get offended, she was throwing herself into walls, windows and doors trying to escape- she's stopped speaking to us altogether, and continues to hurt others every time we let her out of her padded room and lower our guard. She's convinced her father and brothers are going to free her, and the one time I thought we made progress … well, she gouged the eye out of one of our staff." The Head sighed. "She's in a straight-jacket now. We don't have the funding to continue dealing with her, and if she doesn't straighten out soon, she'll spend the rest of her life locked away." The woman was visibly pained by the admission.

"I see, our program is designed for violent cases, however, and we'd still like to speak with her." Bela looked troubled at the description, but Meg had a good idea of how to deal with little Missy Bender (well, she supposed the girl was now 16 or so, so maybe she wasn't so little).

"Very well, come with me." The Head took them to a separate building from the main facility.

Missy Bender was petite and thin ("Hunger strikes," The Head woman explained, "She's managed to make herself malnourished despite our best efforts.") and observed them from the corner of the padded room where she was using her feet to draw eyeballs. At sixteen, she still looked like a pre-teen child, and her blonde hair had darkened some.

"I'll talk to her, Isabella, why don't you and Mrs. Roger talk details?" Meg smiled, waving off the two.

"If you're sure." The Head hesitated, but Bela quickly distracted her, luring her away.

"Hello, Missy … or would you prefer I call you something else?" Meg chuckled as Missy glared at her. "Don't give me that, dear, I'm here to offer you something you want … a chance to hunt those that destroyed your family." _That_ , got Missy's attention.

"How?" Missy straightened slightly, shaking her hair from her eyes.

"It's fairly simple, you agree to do what I say, I'll teach you how to properly hunt." Meg smiled. "Your daddy and brothers might have been good, but that was hunting in the woods they knew. I'm going to teach you how to hunt in cities and places you've never even heard of." Meg leaned close. "So, the deal is this, you agree to mind me and Bela, Missy, we'll leave this place, and when you prove you're ready, we'll go after them together."

Missy looked away, at a wall where three crude stick figures stood proudly together, and looked back. "Can we get my brothers?"

"The deal is only for you right now, Missy." Meg smiled. The two men might make decent muscle in the future, but they were too risky to rescue right now. "Tell you what, once you prove you're ready, we'll see about getting your brothers then. Won't they be proud to see their sister all grown up and ready to lead them in a hunt?"

Missy nodded, smiling. "I'd like that." She said dreamily, clearly envisioning her reunion with her brothers.

"Then do we have a deal?"

"Yes'm." Missy startled as Meg snapped her fingers and the straightjacket unbuckled and came off. She looked in shock at Meg, who let her see her black-and-silver eyes with a grin that was more blood-thirsty than amused as she extended her hand to the girl.

"Then take my hand, and we'll go." The fire alarm sounded in the back ground, followed by shouts and cries. Missy was clearly shaken by the change, but still eagerly grabbed onto Meg's hand, and followed her out as the room behind them caught fire.

Bela met them at the car, looking more than a little annoyed. "I don't suppose you'll tell me more about your plan now?"

"Don't worry Bela, now that we've got Missy, we can really start our play." Meg slid into the passenger seat.

"Hello Missy, I'm Bela, I'm human too." Missy looked at Bela in disbelief as the trio drove away unnoticed by security. "Angela over there is a demon. You've got a lot to learn about the real world, Missy, and here's your first lesson- never assume someone is 'just a human'."

"You're calling me an Angel? Really?" Meg was vaguely amused by that.

"I thought you'd like the irony." Bela shrugged.

In the backseat, Missy shifted, realizing that she knew nothing about the world she had just agreed to follow these people into.

 **Meg now has Bela Talbot and Missy Bender as a team … Missy's fate came from my mother pointing out that there was next to no chance for Missy to ever be able to enter society after growing up thinking hunting people was a sport. Meg and Bela are going to teach her how to fake being a normal person and how to deal with the supernatural.**

 **Next up: Hunting 101 … in which sometimes the adventure isn't so much the actual hunt as it is dealing with the people you hunt with.**


	12. Hunting 101

**Summary:** It's not easy living life on the road, for either hunting things and saving people or hunting people and stealing things. Trust does take time to build, after all, and sometimes, people just have to fight in order to make up.

 **Note:** This chapter is split into sections with their own titles. Also, I don't like conflict, I find it a waste of energy, but sadly, it does occur and so I figured this would be the chapter where the conflict ball got tossed around a lot and some logistics on how the team would work … Dean's easier to write being in conflict with someone than Sam is, for some reason.

 **Hunting 101**

 **Gun Safety**

Jimmy was not a fan of guns, to be honest. They could kill if mishandled, and he'd read too many horror stories about people mishandling or improperly using guns to really relax around them. He was especially not a fan of guns near his little girl. He had even requested that Sam not have his guns out in the same room as Claire, wanting them to remain locked up (or hidden) unless there was danger or an emergency, and Sam had tilted his head before agreeing.

So he wasn't happy when he and Adam came back to their motel room (really a small one bedroom cabin with a small kitchen and a living area with a pulled out couch) and found all the guns laid out on the couch where Sam was cleaning them and Claire was sitting across and watching Sam.

"What are you doing?" Jimmy asked, and the two froze, Adam took a half step back.

"Maintiance. After last night's hunt, they need to be cleaned."

"I thought we agreed that you wouldn't leave them out." Jimmy glared at Sam, who, to his credit, did look slightly remorseful. What he said next though did not make Jimmy soften.

"It couldn't wait, Jimmy, and Claire needs to know how to at least identify a gun and if the safety is on."

"She's too young."

"Dad-" Claire tried, but was ignored.

"I was her age when I learned." Sam retorted. "The firing pins have been removed, and the safeties are all on, I'm not going to endanger her by teaching her something about gun safety!"

"Unlike your father, I don't endanger my child needlessly!" Jimmy snapped, and the air went out of the room.

"Leave my father out of this, you're the one that decided to tagalong!" Sam practically growled, standing up to his full height instead of the slight hunch he normally had.

"Don't you-" Jimmy began, but was interrupted.

"Daddy, stop!" Claire yelled, and the sound of tears in her voice made them all look at her. "Please, don't fight! I asked if I could watch. Sam wouldn't let me in the room until he'd gotten all the firing pins and made me promise not to touch." Seeing his daughter near tears was enough for Jimmy to reign in his temper as much as he could.

"You still should have waited or even called and asked me." Jimmy looked at Sam, before heading to the kitchen area to put away the food and calm down before he could start a fight. Claire followed, leaving Adam and Sam to talk. The door to the kitchen swung shut behind her, muffling their voices.

"Daddy, I didn't mean to cause a fight …" Claire wiped her eyes. "I just wanted to be in the same room as Sam, reading was boring and there was nothing on TV, I'm sorry!"

"I'm not angry at you, Claire-bear." Jimmy sighed, putting away the food. "I'm sorry I lost my temper in front of you, I never should have done that." He added, turning and pulling her into a hug. "You're the most precious thing I have left, I don't want you anywhere near anything remotely dangerous."

"You'd always protect me, and Sam would never let me get hurt." Claire tightened her grip. "Adam too."

"I know, sweetie." Jimmy swallowed a lump in his throat, because 'always' and 'never' were two promises that tended to be broken. "I'm sorry, I love you."

"I love you too, Daddy." Claire pulled away, and Adam stuck his head in.

"Hey, Claire, there's a show on you might like." Claire nodded, and rushed out the door with one more hug.

Jimmy turned back to the food, but saw Sam enter and felt guilt clog his throat. He hadn't meant to say those things about Sam or his father (who was also Adam's father, so he owed him an apology too) but had been looking to drive his point across in the most painful way possible.

"You're right, I should have called you to ask if it was okay." Sam started, but Jimmy couldn't look at him just yet. "I don't want Claire in danger anymore than you do, it's why I warned that you might regret tagging along, this lifestyle had killed most of my family, and it's not stable or respectable. I know that better than anyone." Sam sighed. "But Jimmy, you have to trust me, yes I grew up a little jacked, but I was raised by a marine who taught me to always be careful and to respect the weapons I used. I certainly won't let Claire or Adam misuse one on my watch. I showed you how to fire a shot gun, didn't I?" Jimmy nodded. "I'm sorry I didn't ask before hand, I won't forget to do so again."

"I'm sorry too," Jimmy turned to look at Sam, "I shouldn't have lost my temper, or said those things about your father, I don't know the man, and it was cruel for me to speak ill of the dead. I just … I don't want Claire getting used to this lifestyle."

"I know, but with that demon still gunning for you whenever she gets the chance … Claire's going to have to learn some things you'd rather she wouldn't, just in case the worst does happen." Sam ran a hand through his hair. "I'll check in with you, but I know what it's like to be the child of a hunter, especially one on the move, so you're going to have to trust me if I insist of teaching Claire something you're not comfortable with."

"I do trust you." And Jimmy really did trust Sam, but that didn't make this any easier. "I don't regret tagging along, Sam, I just … she's my little girl, I want to protect her from everything that can hurt her, I know it's unreasonable, but I still have to try."

"I know, Jimmy." Sam agreed, and the tension finally seeped away.

* * *

 **Expanding Knowledge**

Missy Bender was a pain in the ass. Even though she minded Bela on some things- studying how people moved, how to act in order to get the reaction she wanted- there were some things that she would dig her heels in and refuse to budge.

Generally, anything to do with reading, writing and math, or proper speech.

"I ain't gunna need this!" Missy hissed. "Pa said I'd never need to know none of it!"

"Missy, you made a deal to learn from us. If I say you need to learn, you need to learn, I don't care about your Pa." Bela snapped. Missy threw the book at her head and ran into her room.

"Lessons not going well?" Meg looked amused as she entered the room. Bela had been stubbornly trying to get Missy to learn more academic subjects.

"What gave you that idea?" Bela thumped the book on the table. She noticed a newspaper in Meg's hand. "What's that?"

"Oh, just an article about how sloppy police work go the wrong men arrested, and then how the Winchesters were framed." Meg put the paper down, the old grainy picture of Sam and Dean looking out at them. "Let's try something a little underhanded, shall we?"

Missy came down for dinner, and noticed that one wall had various articles and maps pinned to it. On the table was a paper, with something highlighted on it under a photo of the two men that ruined her family. She recognized the letters, but could not put them together to form a word.

"Their last known location where they were together." The Demon popped up behind her, tapping the highlighted part.

"What's it say?" Missy asked, wondering how close they were. "Is it far from here?"

"You tell me." The demon smiled. "That's what reading and math is for." She added, stretching out in a chair. "See, people leave written trails the same way they leave physical ones, education helps us track them … I told you, it was going to be a different way of hunting than you're used to."

So, the letters were like animal tracks that combined to make a trail … Missy blinked, looking at the paper again, before looking at where Bela was standing arms crossed.

She didn't like it, her Pa had always told her what was best after all, but maybe she'd have to ignore him this once … she didn't mean to be a bad daughter.

"I'm sorry, I'll mind ya better, ma'am."

"You'd better, the quicker you learn, the quicker you prove yourself ready for the hunt." The demon calmly started to pull off some skin, changing form into someone else as she walked away.

Missy looked at Bela, who looked back at her with an odd expression. "I'll learn to read, ma'am."

"I hope so, once you get this down, the rest will be easy."

* * *

 **Being Useful**

Claire didn't mind traveling, or her dad helping Sam save others, or even when Adam started to join them on hunts. She didn't mind not always understanding what it was the adults were worried about, because she just wanted to stay with them.

She did mind being left behind, though. The room might have been safe, one of them might stay with her, unless they had to run for food, but Claire wished she was a little bigger so she could help them hunt.

She couldn't cook or clean, and even though she now had a squirt gun of holy water and salt, she couldn't really help … even the research wasn't something she wasn't always allowed to do, and it was a little frustrating to have so little she could help with.

The frustration built up until one day she just burst into tears when Adam suggested she go watch some TV show while he went through some notes.

"I don't wanna watch TV, I want to help!" She had shouted, not able to see his startled face through her tears. "I don't want to be left behind all the time!"

"Uh, ok … maybe we should talk when Sam and your dad get back." Adam had suggested, giving her some tissues. "They might have something you can do."

Claire had buried her face into his chest, forcing him to wrap his arms around her as she cried.

"Adam- what's wrong with Claire?"

"She wants to do something to help out with the hunts, I think." Adam passed her to her Dad, and Claire promptly buried her face into his chest as well. "She's really upset."

"Shh, Shh, I've got you, Claire-bear."

"I don't wanna be alone, I wanna help." Claire mumbled.

"I know sweetie, I'm sorry, but there are some things you're not ready to know just yet." Claire heard more talking, but she'd cried herself to sleep before she could comprehend what they were talking about.

The next morning, Claire woke up and promptly felt embarrassed for the outburst the previous night. Her plan to apologize was slightly ruined by her Dad and Adam being gone, and Sam looked up from the table where he was studying something.

"Hey, feeling better?"

"Um, yes, sorry, I didn't mean to-" Claire started, only for Sam to chuckle.

"It's ok, growing up is kinda rough." Sam picked up what looked like a tool box, only it was made of purple plastic. "I was thinking, some creatures are repelled by amulets, the strength varies according to the materials used, of course, but even thread and the plastic lanyards are enough to stall for time." He opened it to reveal a craft box, with a couple small books on making jewelry and different amulets from around the world. "It would help keep us safe." He offered, and Claire looked up, happy that she could do something.

"Daddy say it was ok?" Claire pulled out the booklet on making woven bracelets.

"Your Dad put it together, I helped him." Sam smiled. "It's gonna take some practice."

"S'better than just waiting around." Claire hugged Sam, and when her dad and Adam came back with breakfast and cinnamon rolls, she waited until they put it down before tackling them each with a hug, an apology for crying, and several thank you's for the craft box.

* * *

 **Back-up Plans**

Bela always had a back up plan, it was necessary, and she knew one always needed a place to regroup when things hit the fan.

This time, Bela making sure to plan for two. Missy was too misguided to understand how dangerous working with a demon was, how deals would be changed to suit their whims and there was no way out once it was signed. If shit hit the fan, Bela would take Missy with her, the girl was starting to warm up to her, if only because Bela had told her stories of her exploits stealing from people.

She didn't trust the demon as far as she could throw her, she was constantly working on something, searching the internet or typing notes into her phone.

"You know, I don't really care that you're making backup plans." The demon said, looking amused as Bela whirled. "I've already got a few in place for if I lose one of you, I'm glad you've got some sense in your head."

"Would be easier if I knew what you were planning." Bela turned back to her own notes. "You know a lot, it's like you know things that should be happening."

"Spying on me too, oh, I am so glad I picked you up." The demon smirked. "It's always nice to have people remember that I might be helping them now, but betrayal is still a possibility. The naïve idiots that believe I truly care tend to be annoying."

"Why did you pick two humans, then?" Bela clicked her pen closed, and turned back to the demon.

"That's a question … See, Heaven and Hell are gearing up for quite the confrontation, but I don't care about that, I just want to mess up everyone's plans. All the other demons, though, they're gearing up for the battle royal, and because my plan targets some major players, they'd sell me out in a heart beat. You two won't, because humans are rather loyal to something that will further their own interests until it can't." The demon chuckled. "Don't worry, you're not anywhere on that list."

Bela highly doubted that she couldn't be added on later.

* * *

 **Ignorance is Bliss, Not Safety**

Adam hit the dirt as Sam put him into the ground. The training spar was not really going well, given how inactive Adam had been while his chest (still tender) had been stitched.

"Again." Sam ordered, and Adam … well, he'd had enough.

"No, I'm done for the day."

"Adam, you asked me to help you, that means you need to listen to me." Sam looked annoyed. "You need to try it again."

"No." Adam glared up at Sam. "I'm done for the day."

"What's gotten into you? Earlier you wanted to learn."

"Earlier I hadn't gotten pounded into the dirt half a dozen times." Adam struggled up. "I'm done."

"You're not going to get any better if you don't push yourself." Sam pointed out, before studying Adam. "What's the real problem?"

"The real problem?" Adam snorted, "I hate to tell you this, but it's not singular." Now if his brother would just drop it. (He knew full well he wasn't angry at Sam, but his brother was the only available target.)

"You can tell me what's bothering you, you know." Sam frowned. "We're family."

"Are we?"

"What?" Adam just barely registered the hurt in Sam's expression before the thoughts he'd been having finally turned into words.

"I started thinking about it, reading those books, see, Dad never, ever, mentions me. There's never a 'hey, head here and make sure the kid I had with a nurse is still alright' or 'by the way, I have another son, who you should probably check on to make sure yellow eyes doesn't find'. There's nothing." Adam wiped his mouth. "It's like all he cared about was killing that thing, and he just pretended to care when he was around mw and mom." Adam met Sam's eyes. "Sam, we're practically strangers, I'm not even sure why I followed you, it felt right, then, but reading those books … It's like he only cared about Dean and you."

"… Those books exaggerate, you know, they have me brooding about Dad way more than I actually do." Sam pointed out.

That wasn't what Adam wanted Sam to say right then. "Never mind, I need to get some water." Sam watched him go, and Adam pulled out his phone, hesitating only briefly before hitting the speed dial.

"Adam?" His mom answered, and he focused on a nearby sapling, if he closed his eyes, he knew he'd go back to the demon attacking him.

"Hey mom, how are you?"

"I'm doing fine, had an emergency C-section last night, both mother and child made it, the drunk driver that plowed into them coded this morning." She paused. "Are you okay?"

"No. The more I learn about Dad … the more painful it gets."

"Oh, Adam, no one is perfect …"

"I know, but he … he never even _mentioned_ me to them, didn't leave me with anything except an older brother who is practically falling apart because Dad's last words to our oldest brother were to either save him or kill him."

"What? Oh, that poor boy." Mom was horrified, Adam suddenly had a feeling that if John had been alive, his mother would have hunted him down and beat some sense into him, or just plain beat him.

"Mom, that's not exactly helping me." Adam rubbed his eyes.

"Adam," His mom paused, and then chuckled. "Adam, you had me there to push you to make friends and socialize outside of our house. Sam and Dean were fairly socially isolated, to the point where they really only trusted one another. You've just found out you have more family than just me, you've also got someone with all the answers. Sam's been promoted from younger brother to older brother, he must be struggling too, because he only knows how his older brother and his father acted towards him- and we know how secretive John was. You're both smart, and you'll figure out the right balance as you go."

"Easier said than done." Adam muttered, turning to see Sam playing with the necklace again. "I've got to go, Mom, I love you."

"I love you too, Adam. Be careful, and tell Sam he's welcome to call me if he needs help putting up with you." Mom teased, and Adam smiled as he hung up, before squaring his shoulders and going back to Sam.

"Alright, I'm ready to go again." Adam looked at Sam's slightly surprised face, and shrugged. "Just needed a moment to get my head on straight, you jarred something loose on that last throw."

"You sure? You don't have to." Sam offered, and Adam could practically hear the underlying suggestion of 'you could go back home to school and forget all this'.

Sometimes, Adam wished he could go back home and pretend he was just a kid with an absent dad again. But he knew he'd passed that stage a while back.

"Yeah, I'm sure, as unpleasant as it is … pretty sure it's going to be worth it." Adam smiled as his answer surprised a small smile out of Sam.

* * *

 **Team Tactics**

Meg had, at one point, been a very good team player, even a good team leader. Once. Then the failed apocalypse had her running for her life and pretty much an outcast with occasional team-ups with the damned Winchesters.

Bela had a job offer, a million dollars to steal a cursed watch that supposedly drove people mad. It was an ideal test run to see how well they could all work in the field together- get a cursed watch, kill the owner, and get back out. Simple, up until that man's damned skin-walker pal caught her scent and attacked. Their fight was cut short by Meg landing on a rug with a devil's trap woven into it in one room, and Meg was now stuck in one spot. The owner came (with a troop of body guards) into question her, sending away the guards once he was comfortably seated.

"Now, you will explain just why you're here." The man had intoned, going for the dramatic, and utterly failing. (He should've kept the guards, it would've worked better.) "What do demons gain by breaking and entering my home?"

"It's fun." Meg shrugged, and wondered if Bela had taken Missy and left. It would be par for the course with her choice in allies, really.

"You expect me to believe that 3 demons break into my house and- Ahh!" The man yelped as a bullet entered his leg.

"Wondered where you got to." Bela commented, unscrewing the silencer. "Found a small armory, bunch of illegal weapons, we could use them."

"How could demons escape my traps?" The man spoke, before realizing he should run, instead.

Missy met him at the door, looking very perplexed as the man threw himself backwards in fear. "I found the box you were looking for."

"Thank you, Missy." Bela cut the rug, ruining the pattern so Meg could step free.

"I'm afraid you've got your information wrong." Meg stepped out of the trap, while Bela picked up the curse box holding the watch, and felt slightly bemused by the situation. That was another bonus to having someone that wasn't a demon after all, but one she hadn't really thought of that much. "Missy, we can't leave witnesses, would you mind killing him?" Meg asked, and Bela didn't even blink, though Meg was sure she was shooting a glare when they left.

Missy obeyed, the man went down with hysterical begging.

"Bit messy, Missy, and you let him make too much noise." Meg chided, before smiling. "I'm thinking about how we introduce our line up to Sammy, before we start the next level of our game." Missy looked at Meg, before glancing at Bela.

"I thought I wasn't hunting them yet."

"You're not, this is what one calls 'first contact', letting the opponent know you're ready to start the game while you get a chance to observe their moves." Meg smiled. "See, Sammy expects me to be alone, or with other demons. This will throw him off balance, and you can observe his little pack."

* * *

 **Give and Take**

Things seemed to go through patches of good and bad luck for the Winchesters and their allies. With the start of getting people aware of the danger they were in had gone smoothly, it promptly hit a rough patch when Sam had gone to personally talk to Lisa Braedan.

She had not taken it well, to say the least, demanded that he leave her and her son alone and never come back.

Sam couldn't blame her, but then it was followed by the report form Cassie that some of the people they'd saved had gone on to die in car crashes, a few apparent suicides with their behavior changing in the months after being saved, and in one case a drug overdose.

It wasn't their fault, they weren't there to help them deal, but he thought the worst cases were the ones where they had clearly died trying to encounter the supernatural. The conversation he'd had with Cat in particular had stood out after being told her former boyfriend had died in a car crash, "It didn't even seem real to me anymore, I thought we were fine and then he got obsessed with ghosts and death and that's … that's when he started trying more dangerous stuff to find and contact them. He crashed into a pole at a hundred mph, I don't even know why he was going so fast, it was like he was trying to outpace something."

Either people weren't dealing, or they were trying desperately to do something stupid regarding ghosts and whatever monsters they'd been saved from.

And somewhere in the mess that was trying to deal with the knowledge that maybe he should have kept in better contact with those they helped, Sam had come to a revelation.

He didn't like being in charge of other people. He much preferred following someone else and helping than actually being the one in charge. It scared him that people trusted him to the right answers when he wasn't even sure of what he was doing.

And then there was the problem of his returned and sporadic powers that caused him to kill a shifter before it killed Adam- because he'd seen it in a vision and in the middle of it, he'd telekinetically threw a knife into the creature's skull. That had freaked him out, so much so that upon the return to the room, his panic attack he'd been trying to suppress had caused five books to go flying.

So he ended up running to the nearest park to get his head back on straight but he really couldn't focus enough to do so.

"Dean, I know you can't hear me, or well, maybe you can … I'm in way over my head and I don't know what to do." Sam felt a surge of frustration. "I'm terrified to sleep because I might have another vision of you in hell, and the sick thing is I so desperately want to see you that I half hope that I do. That shining came back, and it scares me because you didn't want me to use it, and now it's acting up more than before and I don't want it to because despite what Jimmy and Adam say, it freaks me out!" Sam whirled and almost ran into Adam. "What are you doing here?"

"Making sure you didn't leave us behind. Claire's decided to camp out in the Impala just in case." Adam held out a tissue. "Your nose is bleeding again, and I need to check your eyes, so sit on the bench over there."

"Adam, I'm not safe."

"No, but you're the safest." Adam tugged Sam over to the bench. "I know you're uncomfortable with the shinning stuff, but really, you kinda need to trust us when we say it's okay and let us take care of you once in a while."

Sam opened his mouth, but the words he meant to say were swapped with another question. "Is this want you want to do, follow the family business?"

"Nope. I've got little interest in actively seeking out monsters- helping people hurt by them, however, is more my speed." Adam met Sam's eyes. "I've figured out what I'm going to do. Right now, I've got two classes online with a slightly more relaxed schedule, I'll complete those and then I'll go back to school in January, up my course load so I can graduate as quickly as possible and get into medical school, probably log as much hours in a hospital as I can, though I've been volunteering at them since I turned 16, so I've got a lot of hours already. If I do nothing else, I might even graduate medical school in three years instead of the normal four, and then I've got the residency. I'm not interested in surgery, so maybe a small medical clinic, or an urgent care for my residency which I might be able to cut down to a year or two instead of three. Then if I can get a legitimate source of money, I can start my own clinic where I can treat hunters without them having to answer awkward questions. No idea how that part will work, but I'll figure it out eventually." Adam smiled at his look. "It's just a rough sketch of an idea, but I'm pretty sure I took more after my mom than I did of our Dad."

"Fair enough." Sam smiled and looked down. "My powers don't freak you out?"

"I'd have run for the hills after the iron hit the door if they did."

Jimmy was waiting for them outside the room when they came back, looking mildly annoyed.

"S-" Sam's apology was cut off by Jimmy passing him his phone.

"Missouri Mosley. I'm going to go talk Claire out of sleeping in the Impala." Jimmy softened the rather brusque words with a pat on Sam's shoulder.

"Missouri."

"Boy, if you didn't know how to control that gift of yours you shoulda told me!" Missouri scolded, and Sam felt like he should be ducking to avoid a wooden spoon. "Telekinesis, Samuel Winchester! I thought it was just vibes and visions, those are easy enough to deal with meditation of any kind, but Telekinesis! Especially if you can't control it?! I thought you had more sense than that."

"Sorry, I, I didn't know who to go to … you have telekinesis?" Sam blinked.

"Boy, do I look like a spoonbender? Don't mistake me, I can help you sure enough, but you get yourself and your fancy car to my place before I change my mind." Missouri hung up with another huff.

Adam took a picture of Sam's face, which had remained frozen in confusion and the terror one finds in a child being called out by his mother, before smiling at him. "Jimmy thought she might have a clue on how to help you."

Sam was hit by a slightly ineffective tackle by Claire.

"You run, we follow, that's just how this works." Claire informed him, and Sam smiled.

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

* * *

 **Note: As I said before, I suck at writing conflict, especially as I try to avoid it, so this was my attempt. Any ideas on how to make it better?**


End file.
